PESHAWAR: The teachers have announced to shut down University of Peshawar till accepting of their demands including removal of vice-chancellor after the killing of security supervisor.

The executive body of Peshawar University Teachers Association (Puta) made the decision at an emergency meeting after killing of UoP security supervisor Saqlain Bangash by a security guard on Sunday.

“The university will remain closed till acceptance of our demands including judicial inquiry into the assassination of the security supervisor,” Puta president Mohammad Uzair told Dawn.

The assassination of a lecturer of Islmia College University, Bashir Ahmed, and security supervisor Saqlain Bangash of UoP at the hands of security guards within a fortnight spread unrest and tension at the university campus.

“No academic, official and even sanitation activities on the campus would be held till acceptance of our demands,” said the Puta president. He said that all clerical staff and Class-IV employees of the university also backed their shutdown call and they would not perform their respective duties on the campus.

Also, they would observe a sit-in on the campus at Puta Chowk from morning till afternoon, he said.

Puta demands removal of VC and judicial probe into incident

Puta has demanded of the government to immediately remove vice-chancellor, initiate a judicial inquiry into the killing of Saqlain Bangash, clear the university of arms, conduct psychological examination of all the security staff.

In a related development, Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) also held a meeting at Islamia College University with its provincial president Dr Izhar Ahmad in the chair to discuss the situation after the killing of Prof Bashir Ahmad and Saqlain Bangash.

The meeting endorsed all the decisions of Puta and announced full support to it.

The participants of the meeting urged the academic staff associations of all the universities to ensure maximum participation in the sit-in to be held on the call Puta.

FAPUASA also announced complete strike at all the universities from 11am to 1pm on Wednesday and asked the staff of the rest of the public sector universities in the province to stage protest demonstrations.

The academic staff association will fully participate in the protest demonstration to be held at Islamia College on Wednesday.

On Monday, the students of the university under the aegis of different organisations staged a protest demonstration against the two tragic incidents on the campus within two weeks.

The demonstration was led by leader of Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) Taqveemul Haq. The students marched from Puta Hall to Khyber Medical College where they were addressed by their leaders.

The speakers termed the incidents as negligence of the administration. They demanded early steps to restore peace and end unrest among the people on the campus. They expressed astonishment over the failure of police to ensure peace on the campus. They stressed the need for disarming of all the guards on the campus and undertaking medical and psychological examination of all the employees of the university.

The protesters also urged the provincial government to announce Shuhada Package for the families of Prof Bashir Ahmad and Saqlain Bangash.

Vice-chancellor Prof Mohammad Idrees was not available for comments.

However, an official of the university administration told Dawn that there was no need for shutdown of the university as the killer of the security supervisor was arrested and investigation was under way.

He said that the university administration also constituted a fact-finding committee to probe the incident and submit its report within 10 days. The committee held its maiden meeting on Monday and discussed the overall situation.

Meanwhile, the campus police on Monday arrested the security guard. The FIR said the security supervisor, Saqlain Bangash was killed when the pistol the security guard, namely Masood, was cleaning allegedly went off after falling from his hands.

Fazal Rehman, the investigation officer of the case, while quoting the witnesses said when the security guard stood up to open the gate for his supervisor, his pistol fell from his hands and went off, leaving Mr Bangash critically injured. He said the injured was shifted to a hospital where he succumbed to injuries.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2023