There has been a lack of education in our region. But if a person manages to acquire an education, he is free from slavery and gratitude of others. The more knowledge one acquires, it makes us humble as we have gained enlightenment. It is not the patient but the doctor who treats the disease after diagnosing it. The doctor’s main focus should be on the patient’s treatment rather than pointing out their flaws.
Similarly, the Chairman of Higher Education Commission Dr Tariq Banuri has done the same with regard to education. In this God-forsaken nation, there is no value for intellectuals. Generations have borne the brunt of this mistake. The world’s education system has progressed leaps and bounds but in Pakistan, universities have resorted to blackmailing the HEC, the backbone of the higher education system.
Dr Tariq Banuri was appointed as HEC chairman for four years in May 2018. The present government destroyed the sovereignty of the institution by making amendments in the HEC Ordinance 2002 and removed the chairman through a presidential ordinance. Dr Tariq Banuri was dismissed from office on March 27, 2021. He was eventually reinstated by the Supreme Court on his post on January 18, 2022.
Unsurprisingly, many anti-education elements were perturbed by the court’s decision. The reappointment of Tariq Banuri has sparked a debate as to whether he will get the lost tenure during which he was removed from office. This is a crucial question and legal experts believe that there have been numerous instances where an officer removed from office has remained much longer after his reappointment.
The case of renowned police officer Shoaib Suddle is a prime example. He was given an extension for the period he spent away from the job. Under the rules, if someone is dismissed from the job but later reinstated through the courts, it is customary to pay accrued salaries and perks. Similarly, there is an important case of Ghulam Yazdani Malik and his associate who were sacked by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the ’70s but the court not only reinstated them decades later in 2004-05 but also provided ex-post facto promotions in a few grades.
It is important that the institution of higher education properly functions and is free from the political system.
Now the question arises that if Dr Tariq Banuri gets the time, will he be able to avoid the challenges and fight those who have set eyes on him. This may not be impossible under the current government. If the search committee appointing the Vice-Chancellor is made up of incompetent and controversial people then how can the Vice-Chancellor be non-partisan?
Majority of universities across Sindh have the provincial government’s blue-eyed Vice-Chancellors. In Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the individual responsible for making such appointments demanded such a massive budget for converting the PM’s House into a university, it seems like the teacher’s nameplates will be made of gold.
Whether Dr Tariq Banuri leaves his post in May 2022 or July 2023, it is important that the institution of higher education properly functions and is free from the political system. In order to prevent political interference, factions of scientists will have to be kept at a distance from houses of power. Just as the religious scholars frequenting houses of rulers were unwelcome, there are so-called scientists on whom volumes can be written are also found strolling near the corridors of power.
