Candidate points out irregularities in selection of Fuuast VC in letter to Alvi

Prof Dr Bilquees Gul, who is currently a senior faculty member of the University of Karachi, has written a letter to President of Pakistan Arif Alvi regarding irregularities in the appointment process of a permanent vice chancellor (VC) for the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science, and Technology (Fuuast).

Prof Bilquees, who was one of the applicants for the Fuuast VC’s post, wrote in the letter that she had come to know through different newspapers that two of the three names recommended by the Fuuast senate for the position of the VC did not meet the minimum criterion advertised by the varsity.

The letter reads that a report submitted by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to the Sindh High Court stated that Dr Shahid Qureshi and Dr Zafarullah, two of the three shortlisted candidates, did not meet the 15 research papers requirement and thus they were not eligible for the post.

She informed the president that firstly, the search committee outsourced the entire process due to which it was challenged in the Sindh High Court, which ordered the committee to do the assigned job afresh. However, even in the second attempt, the search committee shortlisted two candidates who did not fulfil the criteria.

Prof Bilquees asked President Alvi how the two shortlisted candidates passed through all the procedures, satisfied the interviewers and the search committee, and then their credentials were slipped through the sharp eyes of the senate members of the varsity. “Perhaps, as the chancellor of the university, you should know what went wrong at what stage and fix the procedures for the future,” she wrote.

She added that the purpose of shortlisting two of the three candidates not fulfilling the criteria was apparently to restrict the president’s free and unbiased choice in favour of the one candidate only.

“I am fully convinced that you are a person who believes in merit and merit alone. But as a president, you should not be naive enough to know the craft and design employed in this situation,” the letter reads.

Prof Bilquees mentioned that she was not among the three shortlisted candidates and she believed that the choice of the president would bring stability and normalcy to the varsity. “I also wish good luck for the new vice-chancellor. Still, I was included among the top five people who were declared qualified by the Search Committee twice in October 2020 and May 2021 selection boards,” she wrote.

She informed President Alvi that her name was presented in the Fuuast senate on July 27, 2021.

The letter reads: “As an applicant whose name was presented in the senate meeting, I would like to draw your attention to the great injustice that happened to me at this stage. According to the statement of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan submitted in the Sindh High Court, TWO out of the THREE failed to meet the minimum criterion advertised by the Search Committee for the post.

“This means the panel of the three sent to you by the senate was incomplete and had the wrong people in it.”

She alleged in the letter that the search committee had failed to carry out its job in a fair manner. She added that the committee’s unprofessional, crude and illegal decisions invited the judiciary’s wrath, but when it finally delivered its job, it did not meet the advertised criteria and the HEC report verified that point.

Prof Bilquees said the search committee acted unprofessionally and wasted precious time and resources of a national university, which brought disgrace to the name of the president, the Fuuast chancellor.

She wrote that instead of investigating the matter, the president appointed the only eligible candidate who was a foreign national and had nothing to his credit that proved his commitment to the promotion of Urdu as means of higher education in Pakistan.

“I want to raise this question to your kind judgment and wisdom. I believe as a citizen, I would like to see my President making a good choice for educational institutions. At least, I have every right to ask my President to follow the rules and set good examples,” the letter reads.