QAU faculty protests against vice chancellor

Islamabad: The Quaid-i-Azam University teachers on Friday demonstrated outside the offices of Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Ashraf demanding his immediate resignation over his alleged 'nepotistic and botched policies' coupled with poor law and order on the campus. It warned it would go for non-cooperation with the administration and boycott of academic activities if the peaceful protest didn't deliver the goods within a week.

The QAU Academic Staff Association organised the protest at the administration block. ASA secretary Dr Sohail Yousaf said the university's faculty resented the VC's alleged ‘nepotistic and botched policies’ and the worsening law and order situation on campus and felt the prevalent university environment was hostile to work with peace of mind.

He said though the best in the country, the university faced serious issues of bad governance, deteriorating law and order and VC's short-term policies. Dr Sohail also complained about the VC's gross negligence over several issues, including fresh round of the university land's encroachment.

"All this mess is triggering an upheaval in the ranks of faculty, which is cogitating over non-cooperation and boycott of academic activities if the current strategy of peaceful protest remains counterproductive," he said.

The protesters said they would continue with peaceful demonstrations for a week over the VC's administrative failures. They accused the VC of unnecessarily barging into the academic affairs of departments and thus, curtailing academic freedom. The protesters said the faculty strongly felt that the VC's immediate resignation would prevent the further academic loss on campus.