Civil society demands restoring Dr Tariq Banuri as HEC head

Civil society, human rights and labour rights activists demanded of the government on Friday to withdraw the new Higher Education Commission (HEC) Ordinance, which, they said, had destroyed the independent role of the commission.

In a joint resolution passed at a meeting with former HEC chairman Dr Tariq Banuri at the office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in Karachi, the activists expressed serious concerns over the ordinance, which, they said, had undermined the HEC role and reduced its chairman’s tenure from four years to two years.

The activists included Karamat Ali, executive director, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER); Asad Iqbal Butt, co-chairperson of the HRCP; Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation, Pakistan; Dr Riaz Ahmed Shaikh, head, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST); Dr Tipu Sultan, chancellor of Malir University; Dr Tauseef Ahmed; Farhat Parveen of NOW Communities; Zehra Khan from the Home-based Women Workers Federation; Liaquat Sahi of the Democratic Workers Unions of State Bank of Pakistan; Saeed Baloch; and Qazi Khizar of the HRCP.

They demanded restoring Dr Banuri as HEC chairman, and pointed out that the government had issued the amendment ordinance in violation of the HEC law and the constitution.

The resolution demanded the restoration of the independent role of the HEC, free from government influence. Earlier, speaking on the occasion, Dr Banuri said the HEC was a regulatory organisation established in 2002, and under the law it was not a part of the government. “The government initially asked me to resign, but after my refusal it made amendment in the HEC law to remove me.”

The government had initiated a systematic harassment process, including making NAB cases against HEC authorities on the appointment issue, he said. “I wrote a letter to the prime minister asking for an appointment for presenting the facts.”

He added that the HEC ordinance had destroyed the regulatory system of higher education in Pakistan, which would be damaged after the amendment even if “I may be restored by

the courts or a new chairman is appointed”.

Dr Banuri said he had filed a consultation petition in the Sindh High Court and its next hearing was fixed on April 8. The court has granted stay. “In my view, the government has violated the human rights of the students for getting a quality education in the country.”

The private sector universities were minting money, he said, adding that he had tried to regulate the system through strict enforcement of merit. “When I joined the HEC, vital decisions were being made in a feudal manner, which has been changed now.”

Dr Banuri said he had also tried to solve the problems of professors and students. He made it clear that the HEC had not opposed the restoration of the student unions in the universities. “I had enforced merit in appointments and scholarship grants and resisted pressure from the government members.”