Daily Times

Civil society leaders on Thursday reposed their full confidence in Sindh University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat and stated that they would not tolerate any effort to tarnish the institute’s repute.

Members of the Citizen’s Action Committees of Jamshoro and Kotri on Wednesday met the vice chancellor at his office. Led by Roshan Birhmani, Sharif Abro and Sagar Almani, the 16-member delegation consisted of Soomar Jamali, Irfan Burfat, Abdul Nabi Birhmani, Mushtaque Chandio, Bahar Bothrai, Zulfiqar Mirani, Khawasti Khan Brohi, Haji Khan Gopang, Altaf Hussain Khoso, Danish Manzoor Thaheem, Muhammad Ramzan Khushk and Haji Wahid Bux Bhalai.

They said that the University of Sindh was making rapid progress under Dr Burfat’s leadership due to the reforms introduced by him during the past two years.

“We warn elements who are hatching conspiracies not to tarnish the image of the alma mater and defame the name of vice chancellor,” they said.

Speaking on the occasion, Roshan Birhmani said that Dr Burfat had been making efforts to bring SU at par with other leading universities of Pakistan and was extremely sincere. “We are amazed that such an earnest person is not acceptable to some elements. They are hatching conspiracies against him. Some Sindh government officials are also involved in such efforts,” they said.

He said 32,000 students were getting higher education from the university. “Nobody will be allowed to tarnish the image of the university for their petty interests. The VC has promoted merit, justice and impartiality on the campus,” he said.

Talking about the reforms introduced by the vice chancellor during last two years, Birhmani said that Dr Burfat had renovated the roads of the university, made results online, computerised the admission system, developed a research culture, improved the condition of hostels and launched a tree plantation drive. Citizen’s Action Committee leader Sagar Almani lauded the services of Dr Burfat and said that the Universities and Boards secretary and an Anti-Corruption Establishment official were trying to remove the VC. “They want to launch inquiries against a grade 22 VC after misguiding the SU chancellor and the Sindh chief minister,” he said.

“The prestige, esteem and standing of the post of VC can never be compromised. The Western world has developed only because they respect teachers. However, the reason of our downfall is that we do not respect our teachers,” he said. He said a delegation of Jamshoro and Kotri civil society members would soon call on Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and inform him about the efforts to undermine the SU.

Irfan Burfat said that the environment of girls’ hostels had been made safe and secure by the vice chancellor. “Any change in the SU leadership will discourage academic activities,” he said.

He further said Dr Burfat was rendering his services to uplift the image of the university according to the vision of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. “It is also the vision of the current Sindh CM to standardise the education and research at SU, which continue in befitting manner at the campus,” he said. Vice Chancellor Dr Burfat said that great respect was attached to the post of vice chancellor across the world. “However, everyone knows how a grade 20 secretary and a grade 18 deputy director tried to defame a vice chancellor by illegally suspending him,” he said. He said that both the officers misguided the Sindh University chancellor and the Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah and took illegitimate actions against him on the basis of mere allegations and unauthentic news. He invited the leaders of civil society to investigate the allegations regarding recruitments, corruption and embezzlement in funds at their own and said that he was ready for any punitive action if found involved in such activities. “I did not appoint any of my relatives at the university. These are just baseless allegations,” he said.