HARIPUR: After cases of sexual harassment surfaced, the administration of Haripur University, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has closed the university till March 7 on the pretext of a shortage of teachers.
Informed sources have claimed that the purpose of closing the university is to cover up the harassment cases and to keep the students away from the civil society and law enforcement agencies.
Meanwhile, the varsity’s Vice Chancellor has once again appointed Associate Professor Dr Shah Masood Khan, as the Acting Registrar, to influence the inquiries.
According to a letter issued by Assistant Registrar (Establishment), a copy of which is available with M.M News, “In accordance to decision of Administrative Management Committee, it is notified for the information of all concerned that Spring-2022 Semester will commence from March 07, 2022 due to some unavoidable circumstances instead of Feb 28, 2022”.
In another letter, Assistant Registrar (Establishment) wrote: “In exercise of Powers vested in him, under Section 11.(5)(a) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act 2012 (Amended 2016), the competent auhotirty is pleased to assign the additional charge of Registrar to Dr Shah Masud Khan, Associate Professor, Department of Horticulture, The University of Haripur, in addition to his own duties till further orders.”
The Assistant Registrar (Establishment) has also written a note in the same letter, “Due to conflict of interest, position of professor will not be processed for Selection Board as long as Dr Shah Masud Khan is in Office of Registrar.”
On the other hand, District police officer (DPO) has asked the management of the University of Haripur (UoH) to share three-year detail of cases of students’ harassment and the action taken against the culprits.
To which the Assistant Registrar of the University has submitted incorrect information of the recent incident, which happened to a Kashmir student. According to reports, the request made by the Kashmir student was not shared with the police.
Public Health and Nutrition Department Dr Amjad Khan allegedly sexually assaulted a student HB* (name withheld for identity) who came from Azad Kashmir to pursue higher studies at Haripur University.
Meanwhile, another incident of harassment at the university has also been covered up, in which complaints of harassment were received against Matiullah Khan, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics.
In this regard, Vice Chancellor Dr Anwar-ul-Hassan Gilani had asked Matiullah Khan to resign himself, otherwise he would be removed by the inquiry committee. However, Matiullah Khan was allegedly rescued by Associate Professor Shah Masood Khan.
When contacted, Dr Shah Masud Khan said that he was appointed acting registrar seven to eight times in three years for 3 months. “The DPO has asked us for details of the harassment cases and we have provided them,” he added.
In response to a question, Masud said, “Prior to the Harassment Committee, the Vice-Chancellor forms a fact-finding committee through discretionary powers in which complaints of harassment are heard. If the cases are strong, then the matter is referred to the Harassment Committee.” He further said that semesters are often delayed and Dr Amjad has appeared before the committee.
