LAHORE: The Punjab University Academic Staff Association (PUASA), Syndicate members and teachers have strongly condemned the Punjab government for what they said its “nefarious plan” to grab 80 kanals of PU land and give it to a private company, the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC).
They also slammed PU Vice Chancellor Dr Zakria Zakar for “spreading misinformation that PU had been occupying the government land illegally for over 70 years”.
“It is shameful for anyone who is even remotely associated with PU to spread such lies about the oldest and largest seat of higher learning in the country, let alone the highest officer of the university,” they said, and alleged that Dr Zakaria Zakar was planning to give 80 kanals to the government in an effort to secure a full 4-year term as VC.
They wowed that they would do everything in their power to protect their alma mater from the Punjab government, which had not given a single penny to PU since it came into power in 2008.
“On the other hand, the government has gobbled up over 700 kanals at PU New Campus to build a road connecting Canal Road to Karim Block (Allama Iqbal Town), besides several kanals of the PU Old Campus for the Orange Train and metro bus projects and many more of Baba (Chishtia High School) Ground to make a parking lot behind the Punjab Civil Secretariat. ”
They claimed that the land had been taken without any compensation to the university financially or equivalent land in terms of the market value of the PU land. They alleged that the Punjab government was trying to ruin the serene academic environment of PU and had made it a hub of illegal political appointments.
They demanded that the government must stop attempts to “grab” PU land once for all, replace Dr Zakria Zakar immediately and hand over the interim charge to the senior most professor and advertise the PU VC post at the earliest in compliance with the January 20, 2018 order of the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
They also requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar to take suo motu notice of the issue and direct the Punjab government to compensate the university according to market rates.
Published in Daily Times, March 29th 2018.