HYDERABAD:
The agreement at Governor House on January 31, to end the teaching boycott at Sindh University (SU), came to an end after three days.
The teachers announced on Friday that all academic activities will be suspended from February 6 and a five-hour token hunger strike will be observed until their demand for the resignation of SU’s vice chancellor, Nazir A Mughal, is accepted. He is currently on sick leave while an investigation is conducted.
The SU teachers had resumed classes after an interval of 29 days, following the killing of Prof. Bashir Chanur on January 2 on campus, the fourth such violent act committed on the premises.
Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad had delegated a committee, chaired by Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Vice Chancellor Dr Noshad Shaikh, to resolve the deadlock through negotiations with the Sindh University Teachers Association (SUTA). Following a meeting with the association, the committee announced that the SU vice chancellor will go on medical leave for four days.
According to SUTA’s Arfana Mallah, they had reached a tacit agreement to make the leave a way for Mughal to step down. “The retreat on this agreement began the moment the minutes of the meeting were not shared with us, as stated in the agreement,” said Mallah. “Pir Mazhar’s support for the VC was the final deal breaker.”
The education minister sent a letter on Thursday to Governor House, objecting to the committee’s decision to send Mughal on leave, saying that it didn’t have the authority to do so.
In accordance with the 18th constitutional amendment, the minister has the right to assert his authority in matters of higher education.
The association’s president, Azhar Shah, said that the teachers will not settle for anything less than the removal of the vice chancellor.
Published in The Express Tribune,

SU teachers resume boycott of classes

HYDERABAD, Feb 4: The Federation of All Pakistan Academic Staff of the Universities Association, Sindh University, has resumed the boycott of classes following non-issuance of notification regarding agreed points between the federation representatives and a committee formed by the Sindh governor.

They vowed to continue their protest till removal of Vice-chancellor Dr Nazir Mughal.

Teachers boycotted classes and marched on the campus in protest against what they termed backing out of the agreement from the government. Some students also joined them.

Leaders of Sindh University Teachers (SUTA) also met adviser to the governor on higher education affairs and Vice-chancellor of LUMHS Dr Noshad Ali Shaikh and asked him to
explain the position. He said he was unable to do anything in this regard. Protesting teachers asked him to arrange their meeting with the governor.

President of SUTA Dr Azhar Ali Shah told Dawn that teachers’ representatives had held talks with the committee constituted by the Sindh governor, who is also chancellor of the
provincial universities.

It was agreed upon in the meeting that Vice-chancellor Dr Mughal would go on medical leave immediately and Dr Parveen Shah would be appointed as acting VC. But such notification was not issued by the governor secretariat, which reportedly was stopped by Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazhar Haq, he said.

He said the education minister in his TV interview also said that the vice-chancellor was not being replaced on the demands of teachers and he would resume his duties on Wednesday. Therefore, teachers were compelled to resume the boycott.

He said teachers would resume their boycott of classes and observe a token hunger strike from Monday near Sindhology building on the Super Highway while on Wednesday teachers and employees of the university would hold a long march from Sindh University to the Hyderabad press club.

He said they would also observe a sit-in at the Governor House next week to press for acceptance of their demands. He said PPP leaders and ministers should have more concern than the governor about the suspension of classes at Sindh University where a large number of students from rural areas were studying.

General secretary of SUTA Dr Arfana Mallah sais the education minister did not come forward when teachers were protesting for the past one month and classes in the higher
education institution remained suspended. He chose to intervene in the matter when the issue had been resolved and classes resumed.

She said the intervention had resulted into the suspension of classes once again.

SUTA: The Sindh University Teachers Association (SUTA) has always demanded of the administration of the University of Sindh for improvement in its internal security service and withdrawal of police and rangers from the campus.

The administration has turned a deaf ear to the demand, leading to several murders of students in the recent past. The situation has worsened to the level that now even the teachers are being targeted.

In a statement mailed to Dawn here on Saturday, president of SUTA Dr Azhar Ali Shah said that after the assassination of Prof Bashir Ahmed Channar, the worsening law and order had reached to such an alarming level that no one felt secure enough to work and move around the campus. Dawn

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