Four KU syndicate members decry violation of procedure

 Plagiarism case

At least four senior faculty members of the University of Karachi, who are also part of the varsity’s syndicate, sent their note of dissent to the Registrar Office on Friday against the bypassing of the procedure and rules by a syndicate meeting for making a decision.

Professor Dr Jamil H Kazmi, Professor Dr Muhammad Haris Shoaib, Dr Muhammad Moiz Khan and Nadeem Ahmed Khan said in their dissenting note that the varsity did not follow the due course while cancelling the PhD degree of a teacher. They said such a trend would be dangerous in future if not properly addressed at the initial stage.

The letter reads: “We will like to submit the note of dissent on the item number four regarding the report of Plagiarism Standing Committee on PhD thesis of Dr Sulaiman D Muhammad. We believe that the procedure adopted for evaluating plagiarism was not followed at all and the report of the sub-committee which was on agenda was also ignored.

“Instead, the decision was taken on the report of the Higher Education Commission, which was not even shown and circulated to the members of the syndicate and which was not part of the agenda as well. We believe that this sort of practice will undermine the sanctity of our statutory bodies and set a dangerous precedence for teaching community at large.”

The News has learnt that some more teachers could follow them and submit their note of dissent in the coming days. Till now, four out of a total 10 members have disagreed with the procedure adopted to cancel the PhD degree of Dr Sulaiman D Muhammad, who had also filed a case in the court in this regard. In the case, a couple of more teachers have come forward with their note of dissent saying that this ruling could be overturn.

The HEC Pakistan had been forcing the KU Syndicate for some time to declare plagiarism charges were true.

Dr Sulaiman Muhammad is vice chancellor of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology and completed his PhD degree from the KU. The HEC Pakistan had sent high-level officials the last few meetings of the KU syndicate to keep pressure on the varsity’s statutory body.

HEC Pakistan Chairman Dr Mukhtair Ahmed participated in the KU syndicate meeting on Thursday though he had missed the majority of events he was supposed to attend at the campus in the past.

The teachers who have written a note of dissent say that they do not know if the Fuuast VC was involved in plagiarism as it does not a matter at the moment because the complaint did not come through the proper channel and various important factors were missing. They say they want to get answers before making a judgement.

The previous syndicate meeting had decided that the preliminary investigation reports of Dr Shahnaz Ghazi, Dr Obaid Khan, Dr Naeem Qureshi, Dr Zahid Ali Zahidi and Dr Shaheen Khan would also be sent to the varsity’s plagiarism committee. But they were not on the agenda of Thursday’s meeting.

Educational institutes to remain closed today

All public and private educational institutions in Sindh will remain closed today (Tuesday) as the provincial government has declared a public holiday on account of Shab-e-Mairaj. Complying with the Sindh Education Department’s notification, the Private Schools Management Association also announced a holiday for Shab-e-Mairaj, which is observed on the 27th night of Rajab that is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar.  

Security plan

Our correspondent adds: City police chief Mushtaq Mehar has ordered all zonal DIGs to direct their district SSPs, SPs, SDPOs and SHOs to ensure foolproof security and a peaceful environment during the holy eve of Shab-e-Meraj, the Karachi Addl IG Office’s spokesman said on Monday.

Police teams will be deployed at mosques, imambargahs, and other worship and sensitive places to guard against terrorism and maintain law and order in the city, he said.

All activists of militants, sectarian groups and criminal elements should be kept under surveillance, Mehar added. He also called for enhancing patrolling, picketing, snap checking and surveillance in the city.

He directed them to ensure effective intelligence sharing with the law-enforcement agencies, and deployed policemen in civvies around worship places to keep an eye on criminal elements. The police chief asked his subordinates to immediately check any suspicious material found anywhere through bomb disposal teams.

“Bomb disposal squads should be kept ready round the clock to effectively react to any untoward situation,” he ordered. “Districts police should coordinate with the traffic police to make smooth flow of traffic in the city.”