Amidst serious reservations by PPP MNA Justice (r) Fakhar-un-Nisa and Quaid-e-Azam University Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences Prof Dr Qaiser Mushtaq on the recommendations of the anti-sexual harassment committee which probed into the molestation cases, the syndicate’s meeting on Friday ended in a fiasco. The next meeting would be convened on August 20, 2011 to discuss and decide the issue.
The syndicate’s meeting was held at QAU with the varsity’s Vice Chancellor Dr Masoom Yasinzai as the chairperson. In the meeting, the syndicate decided to issue show-cause notices to Controller Examinations Sardar Babar and IT Department lecturer Noor-ul-Mustafa, who have been accused of molesting female students. The accused were directed to submit their replies to the syndicate within one week.
In the findings of the inquiry committee, both the accused have been declared guilty. During the last meeting, the committee presented a report to the syndicate, recommending forced retirement for the controller and termination from service of IT Department lecturer.
Talking about Friday meeting, a source in QAU said that during the meeting, MNA Sherry Rehman supported the anti sexual harassment committees’ recommendations, however, MNA Justice Fakhar-un-Nisa and Prof Dr Qaiser Ahmed strongly opposed the findings and suggested the syndicate members to conduct inquiry before taking any action. During the meeting, the syndicate was given power of ‘competent authority’ to implement the decision of the inquiry committee. The source said that though syndicate was the implementing authority but in the sexual harassment issues, it could ask the inquiry committee for a review. Talking to Pakistan Today, both the accused said that by giving what they said a ‘biased’ judgement the members of the inquiry committee settled their personal scores with them. They said that they would file writ petitions in court, if the syndicate endorsed the committee’s recommendations.
The first case surfaced on June 17 when a female student of Natural Sciences lodged a written complaint with the vice chancellor, accusing the controller examination of sexually harassing her when she visited his office. Following the allegation, the VC constituted a four-member committee to investigate the matter. On July 8, another case of sexual harassment surfaced when a group of five female students from the Information Technology Department accused lecturer Noor-ul-Islam of intimidating them. The students brought the matter to the vice chancellor’s notice, accusing the lecturer of harassing them, particularly one of their colleagues, asking her to respond to his sexual advances or he would fail her. The VC sent the matter to the same committee for an inquiry.
The Friday meeting was attended by MNA Sherry Rehman, Prof Dr Qaiser Mushtaq, Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences of QAU, MNA Justice (r) Waqar-un-Nisa, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Prof Dr Waseem Ahmad from Department of Biochemistry, Dr Muhammad Ishaq, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Registrar QAU, representatives of the presidency and the HEC.
Opinions differ at QAU harassment case meeting
