Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The administration of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad on Monday toured the entrance gate of the administration block which was locked down by the university’s faculty during theie strike against the administration.

The sources told Daily Times that around 2am on Monday morning, a few senior administrative officials of the varsity reached the administration block building gate and broke it with hombres so that suspended official activities could be restored. However, an official said that this was not a professional way to run the system.

The protesters had locked off the administration block of the university and academic activities remained suspended for the last many weeks. The sole demand of the protesters was the resignation of QAU’s Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Ashraf, citing incompetence. While talking to this correspondent, Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Ashraf admitted this development, saying that it was an attempt to open the administration block so that the official business could be resumed. “Many official affairs including student’s scholarships, employees’ salaries and others are halted due to these locked offices. However, the Academic Staff Association (ASA) representatives reinstalled the toured gate,” he claimed. Replying to a question, the vice chancellor said that the university was also trying to approach the city administration for their help through written requests and soon a crackdown would be launched against these protestors.

According to the available information, almost all of the faculty is supporting the strike and the boycott of classes. University’s official transport interchange is also locked up by these faculty members.

The ASA that is mainly leading the protest issued a press releaseon Monday. However it avoided to mention regarding the touring gate incident by administration.

The press statement said that the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) joined the protesting faculty at the sit-in camp.

FAPUASA President Dr Kaleemullah Bareach was quoted as saying that the FPUASA totally supports the demands of QAU-ASA and the incompetent VC of QAU should immediately resign.

“He further announced that FAPUASA was going to announce a country wide strike against the apathy of government and the concerned authorities,” the statement added.

It further said that the government had announced the advertisement for the new VC of QAU.

Published in Daily Times, March 20^th 2018.