HYDERABAD, March 26 A large number of the leaders of public opinion as well as the association of university's teachers have condemned the Sindh University administration's holding a jirga to settle a dispute between security guards and some students.

Qamar Shahbaz, Nazir Memon, Prof Mushtaq Mirani, Zulfiqar Shah, Irfana Mallah and others said in a joint statement that the universities throughout the world were trend setters, guiding the society as well as government how to deal with different problems.

But unfortunately, instead of guiding society, the Sindh University evoked the much abhorred and outdated system of jirga to settle a dispute and thereby handed over the fate of civil society to despised tribal chiefs and feudal lords, they said.

The jirga system, they said, had been declared as illegal by the Sindh High Court and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and by introducing it on the campus, the administration had breached the law of the land, which was not only an illegal act but also a repugnant practice, they said.

They endorsed a resolution passed by the Sindh University Teachers Association (SUTA), which stated that holding the jirga on the campus was the worst example of mismanagement and helplessness of the present administration as well as defeat of the intellect.

The association had correctly requested the chief justice of Pakistan and the government to take serious notice of the incident on the campus, which was being run by failed retired officers, they alleged.

Prof Amar Sindhu, leader of Women Action Forum, condemned holding the jirga and added that the outdated system had been declared illegal. Holding the jirga in a university was tantamount to defeat of justice and intellect, she said.

She said at a meeting of the forum that it also proved inefficiency of the administration and regretted that instead of solving the dispute according to law, the matter had been handed over to tribal chiefs.

The meeting demanded that the government should and the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Choudhry should take notice of the jirga in the university.

The university administration denies holding the jirga on the campus and says that the dispute between the students and the employees was settled at a meeting of students and their parents and employees and their parents.