Universities Across Pakistan go on Strike Against Assault
FUAPASA had called for the strike in favor of demands and against the assault on protesting educators in Peshawar
The government teachers were baton-charged and tear-gassed by the police in Peshawar when they staged a protest in front of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly against reduction in allowance and they are observing a countrywide strike today.
Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FUAPASA) had called for the strike in favor of demands and against the assault on protesting educators in Peshawar on Monday.
The demonstrators blocked the road and hurdled the traffic flow while the police booked at least 21 protesting educators including Peshawar University Teachers Association (PUTA) President Fazl Nasir.
The teachers in Peshawar while staging the protest demanded the government revoke the reduction in allowance as it could harm their financial condition.
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The arrests were made in order to control the situation and the police were of the view that the protestors had blocked the roads causing inconvenience for the people.
On the other hand, FUAPASA Head Dr Shah Alam said the protest would continue until the demands were met that includes the withdrawal of proposed reforms.
He called for the government to rescind reduction in allowances of university employees, restoration of free education facilities for their children, and establishment of a provincial chapter of Higher Education Commission (HEC) under the 18th Amendment.
Meanwhile, KP Government Spokesperson Kamran Bangash said, “Some elements are wrongly attributing the present crisis to the decisions/guidelines of KP govt for ameliorating the situation”.
He was of the view that the government had come to the rescue of universities in the past and it is doing and will continue it despite meager resources.
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Some elements are wrongly attributing the present crisis to the decisions/guidelines of KPgovt for ameliorating the situation. In fact it is due to bad decisions by the Uni Administrations coupled by shrugging the responsibility by HEC in their Ordinance of 2002— Kamran Bangash 🇵🇰 (@kamrankbangash) May 31, 2021
“If reforms aimed at financial discipline aren’t implemented, the situation will be hard to be sustained”, he added.
Subsequently, FUAPASA announced to suspend teaching activities in all universities across Pakistan today.
