ISLAMABAD: Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Ashraf on Tuesday called upon the faculty members who had been on protest for the last five days on issues regarding the university’s security arrangements. Dr Javed Ashraf, while addressing media at the university’s premises said that he was ready to discuss all the problems of the protesting faculty members, in order to review their demands for a possible solution. He also offered them to devise an unbiased committee so that decisions over the matter could be taken. “They can even choose their most trusted members for constitution of an impartial committee to lead toward the solution of the issue,” Dr Javed suggested adding that he did not have any problem as long as the members of the committee were officials of the president house, Ministry of Education or from the Higher Education Commission. However, he clarified that to build a pressure or to blackmail was not the way to resolve the issue. He also said that personal vendettas should not be taken out against the entire institution. The QAU has over 20 departments and a large number of faculty is working in them. Without any group distinction, almost 200 faculty members were seen gathering outside the university’s premises since Friday. They were holding placards with slogans like, “Save QAU from hooliganism, corruption, and incompetency,” and also one that said, “Go VC go.” The protestors said that the faculty of QAU deeply resented the nepotistic and botched policies of Dr Javed. “We are also disgruntled over the deteriorating law and order situation in the campus and feel the apparent environment of the campus is hostile and not conducive to work with a peace of mind,” they maintained. “We decided not to cooperate with them anymore and boycott academic activities until the acceptance of even a sole demand of ours. We wanted the VC’s resignation as there is no other solution to prevent the academic loss any further,” they added. They alleged that the bad security mechanism was due to the complete inability of administration which never addressed this issue seriously and on priority basis. “The inactivity of administration has brought the university in a situation, where the lives, honour and properties of students and faculty alike are under continuous threat. All of us unanimously, have decided that work cannot continue under these circumstances,” they alleged. On the other hand, the VC requested the faculty members that announcement for such threats was not the solution of any issue. “They are teachers, not politicians. Teachers should be a role model for their pupils,” he said. However, the faculty reaffirmed that they would not call off their announcement until they see a resignation from the vice chancellor. “The administration under Dr Javed has miserably failed,” they said. Dr Javed added that it were his policies that had resulted in uplift of the university’s good reputation. “The QAU is placed international in ranking during my tenure while the number of publications has also increased very significantly,” he claimed. He also added that he managed to get more funding worth Rs 2 billion from the government that has been sent to the planning commission for a final approval. “The HEC has also sanctioned Rs 40 million for the university’s development, out of which Rs 5 million has been released,” he added. Published in Daily Times, February 14th 2018.