ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Thursday sought exemplary punishments for all those involved in the murder of Mashal Khan, calling the incident a failure of the university administration.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training, which was chaired by MNA retired Col Dr Amirullah Marwat expressed great concern over theincident.

During the meeting, the state minister for federal education Balighur Rehman revealed that the country`s intelligence agencies have expressed concerns that students at some universities were found to be associated with terrorist groups.

He said that following Khan`s murder, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) decided to hold a meeting of universities` vice chancellors on April 29, to devise a plan for students` character building.

However, he said because intelligence agencies wanted to share information, the meeting has been postponed to May 8.

The committee was informed that a joint investigation team is investigating the lynching case on directions from the Supreme Court.

The committee also recommended that the Khyber Pakhntunkhwa government appoint permanent vice chancellors at universities, as nine universities in the province are currently running without vice chancellors.

In addition, the Apprenticeship Bill 2017 was unanimously approved by the committee after some amendments.

The committee directed the HEC to complete an inquiry report regarding alleged irregularities in the award of a contract for the Swat University project.

The committee also took serious notice after a notification issued by the University of Karachi that declared a PhD degree held by Federal Urdu University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Suleman D. Mohammad to be fake.

The committee urged the federal government to move a summary to the president to appoint a new vice chancellor at the university. A Reporter