Islamabad - The Quaid-i-Azam University Academic Staff Association on Monday locked the administration block at campus creating hurdles for administration and the students reaching university, said an official.
The teaching faculty association on the last working day had vowed to lock the administrative affairs of the university till implementation of their demand of resignation of Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Javed Ashraf.
ASA members locked the transport section early morning and only few buses managed to leave the fleet. However, the teaching faculty didn’t allow the buses to enter the campus on their return.
ASA protest also led to the suspension of academic and research activities in the university, said official.
The statement issued by ASA said that a significant number of faculty members are maintaining a sit in before the transport section of the university while roads to the university are open. President of ASA, Dr. Aqeel Bokhari criticized the VC’s policies calling them discriminatory against the faculty.
He said that the faculty will not resume any academic activity unless the Vice Chancellor Dr. Javed Ashraf steps down from his position.
ASA president said that VC has lost his moral authority since the university has been dysfunctional for a long time.
“This is akin to playing with the future of faculty, students and the prestige of the university,” he added.
Dr. Aqeel Bukhari said that VC is trying to malign faculty through all possible means while the momentum of the sit in is growing and will go unabated unless the VC resigns.
Meanwhile, VC QAU Dr. Javed Ashraf condemned the step taken by ASA to lock the administration and called it unlawful.
He said that relevant forums such as Federal Ministry of Education and Higher Education Commission have not supported the teachers’ protest while the deans of the university have also disapproved of the decisions taken by the teaching faculty.
He said that due to disruption in transport movement of the campus, the strength of students remained low and a large number reached the campus using public transport.
VC also added that administration is reluctant to take any strict action against the teachers to maintain discipline at campus. He accused a few members of ASA to initiate the protest for their personal interests.
Later, the university administration notified that the campus will remain open despite protest from the faculty.
The statement issued said that “It is notified for the information of all concerned that the Quaid-i-Azam University is open and functioning as usual. The scheduled classes and examinations will be held normally and the offices will remain functional. It is further notified that the Academic Staff Association protestors have forcefully taken control of the buses and paralyzed the transport system, therefore, the buses may not be running on their routes. The students and employees are advised to make their own arrangements to reach the campus and to return home after the class/exam/duty. Hopefully the situation will be normalised shortly”.
