PESHAWAR: There is high likelihood of the University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar not reopening its campus in Jalozai, Nowshera, even after the summer vacation in August.

The reason as cited by sources in the university is that the administration is struggling to ensure foolproof security of the premises over unavailability to funds.

In the last week of April, the police had forced the university to close the Jalozai campus over failure to adoptthe recommended security measures in the wake of the Jan 2016 militant attack on the Bacha Khan University Charsadda, which killed 18 students and employees.

The intelligence agencies had also warned the administration of possible terrorist attack on the campus.

After closing the Jalozai campus, the university shifted over 300 students to the UET`s main campus in Peshawar after arranging classes and rooms in hostels for them there.

`We heaved a sigh of relief after the educational institutions were closed for summer vacation,` an insider told Dawn.

He said it was not possible to ensure the prescribed security arrangements on the Jalozai campus even after the end of the summer vacation due to unavailability of funds.

The source said the university needed Rs400 million to constructboundary wall and adopt other security arrangements on Jalozai campus and another Rs20 million for other campuses in Bannu, Kohat, Mardan and Abbottabad.

`Literally, we (academicians) have focused all our attention on the security of the university instead on education,` a teacher said.

He insisted security agencies and police had shifted their responsibilities to educational institutions.

The provincial government has issued the standard operating procedures to all educational institutions for their security.

According to the SOPs, the heads of educational institutions have been directed to deploy guards, construct boundary walls, increase their height to 10 feet with barbed wire fixed atop, install CCTVs, build watchtower and place barriers in front of the main gates.The police have registered FIRs against more than 1,000 school headmasters in the province under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments and Places (Security) Act, 2015, for flouting the security SOPs, and issued warning to many universities, colleges and schools for it.

The law defines the sensitive establishment and places as government or non-government institutions, offices of nongovernmental organisations, and foreign projects or any other ofhce, institution, religious places except mosques as government may, from time to time, declare as sensitive establishment and palace.

While the hospitals, banks, money changers, financial institutions, private firms and companies, industrial units, educational institutions, public parks, private clinics, wedding halls, petrol and CNG stations, jewelry shops,hotels, any amusement or entertainment centres, public transport terminals, special bazaars, commercial streets, shops or shopping arcades, or any other place as government may, from time to time, notify has been declared vulnerable establishment and places under the law.

The sources said as the university didn`t have enough funds, it requested the Higher Education Commission around three months ago to provide money for own security but the request was turned down on the ground that provision of security to the university was the responsibility of the provincial government.

They said the UET contacted the provincial government for funds of late.

The sources said currently, not a single police constable was deployed on the Jalozai campus and that the university had hired the services of 47 guards of a private security company.They added that the recruitment of 40 more guards for the campus was in process.

The sources said the police check post was located around 1.5 kilometers away from the campus.

When contacted, acting vice chancellor of UET Professor Iftikhar Hussain said the university`s Jalozai campus had been closed after receiving a letter from the inspector general police about threats to it.

`All the students enrolled in Jalozai campus have been shif ted to the UE T`s main campus in Peshawar, where classes have been arranged for them, he said.

The VC said only the construction of boundary wall required around Rs250 million as the campus was spread over 3,200 kanals of land.

He said the HEC had promised to release Rs250 million for security arrangements.