Increase font size Decrease font size Reset font size

Move to hand over students` record to spy bodies opposed

By Amir Wasim 2017-09-07
ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani has opposed the proposed move to hand over the record of Karachi University students to intelligence agencies and the requirement under which they will have to produce character certificates to be obtained from the police station concerned at the time of admission.

Mr Rabbani expressed concern over the reportedmove by the authorities concerned through a letter written to the vice chancellor of Karachi University.

Mr Rabbani, however, in his letter stated that he was writing to the VC as `a concerned citizen of Pakistan` and not in his capacity of Senate chairman.

`I am abhorred by news reports that the record of students at the university will be handed over to the intelligence agencies. Further they will be required to produce a character certificate f rom the local police station for admission,` Mr Rabbani writes in the letter, contents of which were released to the media by the Senate secretariat.

`These two institutions are the hard face of the state and an interaction with them will further consolidate the anxiety and fear in the minds of the students,` Mr Rabbani says in the letter.

`Immediate steps are required to address the issue of extremism and violence in the youth; a total review of the curriculum and implementation of the Senate of Pakistan`s resolution on restoring students unions, as diverse literary and academic activity will produce a counter paradigm, Mr Rabbani says in the letter which he had sent to the VC hours beforehis departurefor the United Kingdom on a private visit.

`I hope you will convey my views to the academic authori-ties, taking the decision in this regard,` the Senate chairman concludes in the letter.

The Karachi University`s management has reportedly decided to share the record of its students with the intelligence agencies amid growing concerns about young individuals`involvement in militancy and terrorism.

The decision had reportedly been taken in an emergency meeting of the KU`s Academic Council which was presided over by VC Professor Dr Mohammad Ajmal Khan and it would be approved in the next meeting of the council. The meeting had also reportedly reviewed a proposal about police character certificate for students.

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had announced that a security audit and verification of students would be undertaken in each educational institute `to ascertain if they were breeding terrorists` after it was revealed that a former student of KU was involved in an assassination attempt on MQM-P leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan.