Another scandal rattles PU’s Institute of Communication Studies

After the leakage of an entry test question paper at the Punjab University (PU)’s Institute of Communication Studies (ICS), another scandal has rattled the varsity’s same department, surprising the PU’s academic community, Pakistan Today learnt on Saturday.
The fresh irregularity involves a PU admission committee that failed a student who had secured the top position among the 500 candidates in an entry test.
Sources said the ICS admission committee failed the top position-holder named Waqas Ahmad at the behest of those who wanted to damage the reputation of the incumbent PU Vice Chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran, set to retire next year.
Sources said “an outsider expert propagandist” in connivance with the ICS admission committee did that to tarnish the image of the VC in the eyes of the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Governor Latif Khosa. They said those elements just wanted to given an impression that the VC Kamran had destroyed the academic system of the university.
The victim student Waqas holds that what happened to him was a blatant violation of merit by ICS administration and demands the CM should provide him justice.
Waqas Ahmad had secured 31 marks out of total 40 marks and secured the first position in the entry test held for M Phil in Research Track and M Phil in Professional Track programmes. But when he was interviewed by the 3-member admission committee comprising Dr Bushra Hammod-ur-Rehman, Muddasir Shah and Abida Ejaz, he was given only 3 marks and declared ineligible for admissions.
Waqas, who belongs to lower middle class, has done his Masters from Gujrat University. Sources claimed he was failed only for his humble background.
Waqas Ahmad, while talking to Pakistan Today, threatened to commit suicide outside the Chief Minster’s House.
Scores of students who had applied for the M Phil and PhD programmes of the PU were found complaining about the ICS administration, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Punjab government. They said they had been demoralised to see a top position-holder failing to get the admission.
Last month, a senior academic working at the same department had allegedly leaked a question paper. The CM ordered an inquiry but its outcome was still awaited as according to PU sources, some friends of the VC were trying to bury the issue.
Before that in 2009, the same department was accused of doing “historic corruption” in the M Phil admissions. The inquiry of that corruption saga also remained inconclusive.
A senior PU teacher said that it was a shameful act and being a PU teacher he was sorry for the brilliant student. He urged the VC and to do justice with the victim student.
ICS Director Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz, when approached, said the admission committee had been approved by the DPCC. He said a student securing top position in the written test could fail in the interview and the case was not an anomaly.
PU Admission Committees Chairman Professor Dr Amin Ather said he had talked to the VC on the issue and the latter asked him to ensure justice to the student.
He said the varsity was struggling hard to maintain transparency in the admission process.
“Not such incident has ever happened in other 72 departments of the university and it is only the ICS where such irregularities surface,” he added.