Daily Times

The President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday appointed another Saudi national Assistant Professor Dr Huthal Bin Hamoud Al Otaibi as new president of the International Islamic University (IIU) Islamabad.

Dr Alivi recommended the appointment while heading the Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting. A senior official of the varsity confirmed the development but refused to speak on record while saying that the Rector Dr Masoom Yasinzai can better respond over this matter. However, despite repeated attempts, the Rector could not be reached to have comments over the matter.

Dr Hathal appointed for four years’ term as according to article13(1) of the IIUI Ordinance, BoT appoints the President from a panel recommended by the Rector for a four-year term.

According to his resume available with Daily Times, Dr Huthal has done his PhD in work Psychology and psychology of individual differences from the faculty of Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.

He served as head of the department of psychology and Dean of the Deanship of institutes affairs abroad at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University.

According to reliable sources, a new President has been appointed as per the nomination from Dewan Al Maliki of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Kinddom sent this nomination to President Dr Arif Alvi through a letter on March 17, 2020.

During meeting, the Rector Dr Masoom Yasinzai Presented a panel of three nominees before the BoT included as Dr Hathal, Vice President IIU Dr Aqdas Naveed Malik (currently serving as an acting President in absence of permanent president) and Prof Dr Sajid Ur Rehman ex Vice President IIU.

A senior official who was part of the meeting disclosed in the condition of anonymity that the provision of three names was mere a legal formality. “otherwise, the appointment was pre-finalized,” he said recalling that when Dewan Al Maliki of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had sent nomination to Dr Alvi, first he was not in favor of this appointment latter he agreed when he has been allegedly pressurized by some Saudi representatives in Pakistan.

The official said that even Federal Education Minister was also stuck to oppose the move while he latter surrendered and agreed over the appointment.

The BoT consists of around 40 members from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries. The IIU is run with public funding. The post of IIU president has been vacant since the resignation of Saudi national Dr Ahmed Yousaf Al-Darvesh who had been appointed for a second four-year term that was supposed to end on June 30, 2022, but tendered his resignation on June 15 this year.

According to Higher Education Commission (HEC) rules, the heads of public-sector universities are to be appointed after a competitive process through a search committee. But in the case of the post of IIUI president, a competitive process has almost never been involved in the appointment.

In 2012, the Varsity advertised this position and received 51 applications before the president of Pakistan at the time halted the process and appointed Dr Darvesh to the post, even though he had not applied for it.

The last board meeting discussed that rules for the appointment of a President have not yet been framed and in such a situation, sources said that the IIUI Board of Governors has already approved following the rules of the federal government.

Among the other agenda items, the BoT decided to close IIU Schools’ project in three months. Besides this, the chairman CDA promised in the meeting that CDA plant (installed in varsity premises) will be removed in three months.

The BoT also asked CDA Chairman to take action against the inflated allotment of land to Mazhar in the jurisdiction of the university.

The sources disclosed that Dr Alvi chaired participated in the meeting very rigorously.