Dr Shazia Qureshi, wife of Punjab University (PU) Vice Chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran, has found herself in hot waters as senior faculty members of the University Law College have moved a letter against her accusing her of plagiarism, Pakistan Today has learned.
She was earlier removed from professorship by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on May 5, 2015 but is still serving as the principal of the law college, which comes under the PU umbrella.
Dr Shazia authored the publications in question in a bid to get the status of Associate Professor and Professor, claims the letter, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today. All the signatories of the letter are assistant professors of the college who have serious reservations against the administration of the varsity.
“It is further submitted that we attach no hopes for relief from University of the Punjab as the accused is the second wife of the incumbent Vice Chancellor PU Dr Mujahid Kamran (she herself has been designated by the VC as member of Standing Committee on Plagiarism at PU) and he has awarded her extraordinary treatment/favour for her two steps promotion within a short span of time,” the letter states.
It is pertinent to mention here that her husband is the ex-officio patron of all the PU research journals wherein her articles have been published. A copy of the letter containing this information has been sent to the governor, VC of Punjab University, chair Higher Education Commission Punjab, secretary Higher Education Department, Punjab and members of University of the Punjab Syndicate. They have demanded stern action against the accused and the vice chancellor, who they consider as part of the entire problem.
It is interesting to note that the articles written by Dr Shazia do not have anything to do with law at all. Her work includes Academic Environment and Learning Strategies: Concepts and Contestations, Learning Experiences of Higher Education Students: Approaches to Learning as Measures of Quality of Learning Outcomes and Understanding the Issue of Gender Discrimination as a ‘Crime’.
A few days ago, the PU administration removed the director of the Institute of Geology on the plea that faculty members of the institute filed an application against the director. However, this time the administration is not paying heed to the grievances of the faculty members because the accused is the wife of the powerful vice chancellor.
Pakistan Today made repeated efforts to contact Dr Shazia but her phone remained inaccessible. The spokesperson of Punjab University was also contacted several times to get their side of the story but he refused to answer any questions on the phone.
Showbaz shariff is not reading this article. just relax, nothing will happen, the gentle lady will enjoy her job. Pakistan zindabad
whom should we blame? Lahore High Court or PU. both impotent.
[…] Pakistan Today: PU law faculty moves against VC’s ‘plagiarist’ wife […]
Nowhere in the detail of the story has any reference whatsoever to plagiarism. The said professor has an LLM from Cambridge University and a PhD from Lancaster University. Why is it that the stated facts find no place in this report. One expected better standards from the paper. The paper has every right to report on an action taken by one or two individuals from the faculty but it must also take the viewpoint of the person against whom the charges are levelled. The title of the story itself is so misleading. The news story can be used as a specimen for biased reporting.
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