KP IGP’s planned lecture in UoP today sparks criticism

PESHAWAR: Inspector General Police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sanaullah Abbasi’s planned lecture at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) today (Friday) has criticism from faculty and students of the university, who say such visits may cause spread of coronavirus.

A number of faculty members and students of the university approached The News apprehending that the university was closed for all kinds of academic activities and everything was done online.

Even the online mid-term examination has been postponed and in such a situation the IGP’s visit to the university for a lecture on may worsen the situation.

“It can not happen that IGP would visit the university alone. He must be accompanied by his security and protocol staff. Also, the faculty members and some of students have been asked to attend the lecture. This is not a wise decision in the prevailing circumstances,” a faculty member of the university told The News.

There is no need of such an activity in the university in the current situation, said a student. The top police official is scheduled to deliver a lecture on ‘policing in the merged districts of the province’ today. Students of the university also expressed reservations over the arrangement of the lecture, which the university administration claim, would be an online activity.

Reached on telephone for his comments, spokesman for the university Ali Imran told The News that it was an online activity. No one has been invited for the lecture, he said. He claimed that the IGP would come to the university alone and would deliver an online lecture to the students and faculty of the university.