PA passes controversial varsities bill again

Amid vociferous protest and en masse walkout by the Opposition, the Sindh Assembly once again passed the Sindh Universities and Institutes Laws (Amendment) Bill-2018 on Friday through a majority vote, despite several objections raised by the governor who had earlier declined to give his assent to the law.

The law was first passed by the House on March 9 and even then the Opposition had protested and walked out. The assembly had to reconsider the bill as the governor, as per his constitutional power, didn’t give his assent and sent it back to the House for reconsideration after raising several objections to it.

On Friday, the assembly again passed the bill for the second time through majority vote while rejecting almost all the observations made by the governor. The new universities law has finally drawn the curtain on all the powers the Sindh governor had as chancellor over public sector universities in the province. For all practical purposes, the office of the chancellor has become a ceremonial one while in its place the chief minister would become the all-powerful controlling authority of these varsities.

The newly-passed law empowers the CM to make key appointments at universities including that of the vice-chancellor, pro VC and director of finance. Appointments like resident auditor, chief accountant and bursar would now be made by the pro-chancellor who generally happens to be the provincial education minister.

As the matter was discussed in the House on Friday, the Opposition had a consensus on the viewpoint that there was no moral, political and lawful basis for the provincial government to snatch all controlling powers of public sector universities from the office of chancellor (Sindh governor) when during the last 10 years, the provincial authorities have shown highly unsatisfactory performance managing school and college-level education in the public sector.

Opposition lawmakers tore up copies of the bill, and resorted to vociferous sloganeering against the government and in favour of the rights of Sindh’s people, before staging a protest walkout.

‘Last rites of education’

Speaking on the matter, Leader of the Opposition Khawaja Izharul Hassan said that a dictatorial amendment was being inserted into the universities act and that was, in fact, an attempt to damage the education system of Sindh.

A democratic government is going to take an undemocratic step, he said, adding that the Sindh governor had raised his objections on the bill similar to the observations Opposition lawmakers have made in their earlier speeches in the House.

Hassan said the students of Karachi had the foremost right to getting admission in the University of Karachi. “We would not tolerate any change in the admission policy in this regard.”

However, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said the law was being debated in the House to get the opinion of all concerned lawmakers.

He said the Opposition’s impression that nominees of the provincial government would be appointed in greater numbers in the statutory bodies of public universities was wrong. “The Opposition leader should read the bill,” Shah said.

“The universities were made hostage in the Governor House earlier, and they have to be saved from this situation,” the CM claimed. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said the aim of the law was not to ruin universities but to make them prosperous.

Syed Sardar Ahmed, the parliamentary leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement said the passage of this bill would mean performing the last rites of education in the province.

Sexual assault

Earlier, Home Minister Sohail Anwar Khan Siyal informed the House that the Sindh government taking steps to ensure that there is no repetition of incidents like the one wherein a Hindu teenager was sexually assaulted and tortured in Sujawal by influential people who belonged to the Pakistan Peoples Party.

Responding to a call to attention notice by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional lawmaker Nusrat Seher Abbasi, Siyal said action had been taken against the accused persons irrespective of their political affiliation.

He added all accused had been arrested – three of them were on a seven-day remand while one was out on bail. Nusrat had pointed out that such incidents were on the rise in Sindh and the government should inform the House about measures it is taking to counter them.

Moreover, on a different matter, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Khuhro assured the House that he would talk to the home department to provide security to Samar Ali Khan, an MPA of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Khan had raised the issue that he had been receiving threatening text messages allegedly sent by banned outfits.