LAHORE: Dr Abdul Ghaffar, Punjab University (PU) Geography Department chairman and PU Academic Staff Association (PUASA) vice president, has demanded the varsity administration to take action against certain elements after receiving life threats from some PU employees, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Some PU faculty members, including PUASA members, had given life threats to Ghaffar, as they wanted some favours and concessions from the geography department chairman. Certain people wanted to illegally occupy plots in the housing societies of the PU at the cost of other varsity employees but Ghaffar was not ready to accommodate their illegal demands due to which he was being threatened.
The PU Academic Group, an association of teachers, distributed pamphlets amongst teachers and students at the varsity’s campus condemning life threats to Ghaffar and criticised the role of FAPUASA President Dr Maher Saeed Akhtar in this regard. According to the pamphlet, Akhtar was acting like a silent spectator in the whole episode and should have raised the issue with the university management by moving a resolution.
The PUASA president said that the association had condemned the life threats to Ghaffar and passed a resolution in this regard in the geography department chairman’s presence. On Tuesday, a tense situation was created at the PU, as faculty members came to know about the life threats given to Ghaffar. The incident of life threats to the geography department chairman was highlighted by the PU Academic Group by distributing pamphlets in all the 72 departments of the university.
Students, teachers and clerical staff condemned the role of some PUASA members in the whole episode. The pamphlets questioned that who were issuing life threats to a PU faculty member and highlighted the irresponsible role of PUASA office bearers. Teachers and students got angry after reading the pamphlets, as Ghaffar was a well-respected educationist and his services in geography were commendable.
The geography department chairman told Pakistan Today that he was receiving life threats ever since he became the PU Employees Land Committee chairman around five months ago. He alleged that PU employees including Munir Awan, Zahoor Awan and Ghulam Abbas were threatening to kill him.
“I have recorded the calls in which these people had threatened to kill me,” he said. Ghaffar said that he had written a letter to PU Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Mujahid Kamran informing him of the whole episode. The geography department chairman disclosed that the employees had threatened to kill his family members if he did not stop from exposing their corruption in the PU Housing Scheme.
Ghaffar said that he had started receiving life threats when he came to know that some PU employees along with the land mafia were selling plots illegally in the university’s housing scheme. The geography department chairman said that he had started a number of development projects at the university’s housing schemes and wanted to straighten things out with the help of Dr Amin Ather and other faculty members but some employees wanted to stop him so that they could carry on with their illegal activities.
Ghaffar said that he had written an application to the Muslim Town Police Station for registering a first information report (FIR) but the case had not been registered up till now. A PU faculty member, seeking anonymity, said that the employees threatening Ghaffar were also involved in a drugs business. He flayed the PUASA for not playing a role when faculty members were being threatened by certain elements.
FAPUASA President Dr Maher Saeed Akhtar said that the association condemned incidents of threatening and manhandling teachers and the association had held protests against manhandling of faculty member Dr Iftikhar Baloch by some students. Ghulam Abbas denied all allegations against him and said that police had declared him innocent after investigating the matter.
He said that no new plot be allocated illegally in the varsity’s housing schemes. Munir Awan also refuted Ghaffar’s claims and said that allegations against him were made when the land management committee’s corruption was exposed.