PESHAWAR: The issue of sexual harassment of female students in Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan has taken a new turn as four more employees of the institution have been dismissed from service on the charges of “proven grave misconduct”.
The action is believed to have been taken to avenge the forced resignation of a senior professor of the university on sexual harassment charges a few days back.In Malakand University, too, proceedings have been started to probe the allegations of sexual harassment against a professor by a foreign student. Similar cases have also been reported in other universities causing serious concern and unrest among the general public in general and parents in particular.The Gomal University administration issued four separate notifications awarding major penalty - dismissal from service - to four employees, including two from teaching and two non-teaching cadres, on the charges of sexual harassment. They include Prof Dr Bakhtiar Khan from the Institute of Business Administration, Imran Qureshi, assistant professor in the same department, Hikmatullah, game supervisor and Hafeezullah, laboratory attendant.The final paragraph of the four notifications was the same, which reads: “Further retention of these employees is prejudicial on account of proven grave misconduct of sexual harassment and, therefore, he is awarded major punishment of dismissal from service with immediate effect.”
The action was taken days after the forced resignation of Prof Dr Hafiz Salahuddin, dean of arts and head of Arabic studies and research, who had to quit after being caught red-handed by a television crew while sexually harassing girl students of the university. The TV channel had sent two women to him in disguise seeking jobs. Dr Salahuddin demanded sexual favour and his statement and actions were caught on camera.
The university administration was left with no choice but to ask him to resign once the evidence was shown to the vice-chancellor. He was then arrested by the police and sent to jail. However, he has acquired bail from the court and has come out of jail now. Some reports suggested that the allegations of sexual harassment against Dr Salahuddin had been made long before and formal complaints had been submitted with the university administration. But no action was taken against him owing to his political influence and cordial ties with the top bosses in the university. According to Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, the university administration asked Dr Salahuddin to quit after he was found guilty of immoral and indecent acts. Surprisingly, he was given three administrative positions even though an inquiry committee formed by Governor Shah Farman, who is chancellor of all public sector universities, had specifically instructed the vice-chancellor not to assign him any administrative post.
Sources said that Dr Salahuddin, a bearded man aged about 60 and holding grade-21, was considered close to the vice-chancellor and registrar. This was the reason that no action could be taken against him before the startling revelations made in the TV hosted by Iqrarul Hasan as a number of complaints had already been lodged against him.
There has been great polarisation in the university. Majority of the teaching fraternity has been opposed to the steps and policies of the current administration. They had also launched a long protest drive and the university administration had taken action against a number of employees.
Some sources said that the vice-chancellor was not happy with the forced resignation of Dr Salahuddin, which was why he initiated the inquiry against a number of teaching and non-teaching staff and four of them were dismissed from service allegedly to take revenge.
The vice-chancellor, however, said that a number of girl students had lodged written complaints in light of which the matter was probed and action was taken against the four employees. He added that an inquiry against four more teachers was in progress and the committee would soon submit its report in light of which further action would be taken.Meanwhile, a three-member inquiry committee has been formed in Malakand University to probe the allegations made by a Chinese student of the university against Prof Qaiser Khan, chairman of the Department of English. According to sources, the Chinese student Ms Zhou Min, who has been pursuing her MPhil in the Department of English in the university, approached the high-ups in the university as well as in the government making serious allegations of sexual harassment against her professor. The university has formed a three-member committee to probe the matter. The committee, according to sources, has held four meetings so far and it would submit its report soon. Some members of the committee when approached by this reporter confirmed to have started proceedings in the case. However, they declined to comment further considering it as “highly confidential” matter.
The university spokesman, Fida Khan, also declined to comment till submission of the committee’s report. He said that an “unofficial email has been made to an unofficial address” in which allegations of sexual harassment have been made against a professor of the university.
