National College of Arts (NCA) Film and TV Department Head Shireen Pasha retaliated after one of her students Rana Usman Khan accused her of being biased and of failing him at two occasions during his first and second years. Speaking exclusively to Pakistan Today, Pasha said that she was disappointed with Khan’s attitude. She said that Khan could have been sorted out his difference if he had tried.
“I have always been there for my students. I have maintained that whosoever wants to talk to me can come and talk. I am ready to accept their points of view too. But the way this student went on about some issue that I am not even aware of, is wrong,” she said.
Pasha said she was disturbed about the language Khan had been using in connection with her over the internet, especially on Facebook. In one poster, Khan had described Pasha as, “illegally appointed, very ineligible, very incapable”, and had threatened to take legal action against her. In a Facebook note, he had referred to her as an “old lady” with “6 months of diploma in documentary film making” and “suffering from anxiety/depression/hysterical attacks”. He has also used abusive language against her online. It can be seen on the Facebook page that most students gave only a lukewarm response while several others told him that this was “no way to treat a teacher”.
Meanwhile, Pasha has given documented evidence that the Film and Television Department in NCA has won about 61 awards from 2005 to April 2011, while screenings of students’ films have taken place in New York, London, and Germany among other countries. Moreover, hostel boarders, through a signed appeal by 69 students, have complained to the principal against the misconduct and threats from Khan.
They said that Khan had been creating obstacles in the administration, moving furniture against the rules and refusing to share his room with another student (though the other student was officially allotted the space). The document says, “Another habit of this student is that he does voice recording in social gatherings without permission of people around, due to which the police took him.”