KARACHI: Amid silence from the official quarters over students` academic loss, teachers at Karachi University (KU) went ahead with their planned protest and observed a complete boycott of classes and labs on Tuesday over administration`s prolonged delay in holding selection boards for appointments pending since 2019.

Sources said the attendance of students was thin as majority of them being aware of the heightened situation on the campus preferred to stay away from the university.

The day, the sources said, also saw the Karachi University Teachers` Society (Kuts) engaged in intensive efforts to get support from other stakeholder on their demands.

`Today, we have launched a consultation process with associations representing nonteaching staff members and student bodies and received a very positive response,` Dr Faizan Naqvi representing Kuts told Dawn, adding that the meetings attracted a large number of teachers, students and other employees.

According to him, the attendees included representatives of united ofñcers` associa-tion, Mulazmeen Ittehad, Voice of Centres, Insaf Pasand Group, Balochistan Student Front, Imamia Students Organisation, Pal(htun Students Council, All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation and Islami Jamiat Talaba.

`They all expressed solidarity with teachers and supported their stance over delayed selection boards and university`s financial crisis. Representatives of the non-teaching staff members were of the opinion that they should forget conflicts of the past and get united for a larger cause,` Dr Naqvi shared.

Representatives of the teachers` society would be meeting city chief of the Jamaat-iIslamiHafizNaeemurRehmanonWednesday (today) to apprise him of the prevailing situation at KU, he said.

Students` bodies dismayed over situation However, representatives of the JI at the KU expressed their dismay over the campus situation which resulted in students` loss.

`This situation is causing academic and financial loss to students who pay six-month semester fees in advance. We demand that teachers withdraw this boycott and resume their academic activities,` stated Engineer Osama Agil in a press statement.

He also criticised the government and university administration for failing to address genuine grievances of teachers and the nonteaching staff.

Expressing resentment over the teachers` boycott of classes, the Peoples Students Federation (PSF) announced to hold a protest on Wednesday on the campus.`Teachers are enjoying their time at home while students hailing from far-flung areas have been deprived of their precious academic time. This must end,` said a PSF statement.

The KU teachers have been demanding the start of the appointment process for the posts advertised in 2019. The situation took a serious turn last year when the secretary universities and boards declared proceedings of the selection boards null and void on grounds that the vice chancellor needed to take prior permission for the process from the provincial government. The demand remained unaddressed the whole year.

Last week, the teachers started a partial boycott of classes, which then turned into a complete suspension of academic and administrative activities this week.

A day earlier, Kuts passed a unanimous resolution threatening the vice chancellor with a movement seeking his resignation if he failed to meet the demands till Friday (Feb 17). The demands now include payment of salaries to the newly-appointed teachers at the mass communication department.

`Teachers believe that the vice chancellor has failed to deliver. It`s not an issue of having authority, but rather intention in holding the selection boards,` said senior KU teacher Dr Riaz Ahmed.

The vice chancellor, he alleged, had systematically nullified steps talcen to pave the way for new appointments and promotions.

While the teachers were united under the banner of Kuts, the sources said, there were several groups operating on the campus representing the non-teaching employees, who had an estimated strength of 3,000-plus members.

Speaking to this reporter on the condition of anonymity, a few representatives expressed their grievances against Kuts and said that it had `used` the non-teaching staff members for their cause in the past.

`But, we believe that it`s time to bury the hatchet and let`s move forward with a common agenda,` he said.

Sharing his opinion on Kuts` struggle, Dr Muhammad Hasan Auj representing the KU Officers` WelfareAssociation said: `We believe that we shouldn`t go to that extent (to demand vice chancellor`s resignation) as he doesn`t have the authority to make appointments.

Iftikhar Ahmed of Insaf Group said that it had offered `conditional support` to Kuts.

`We have assured the society of ourfullsupportifourpressingissues are made part of teachers` demands.

We hold the director finance responsible for our woes,` he said, adding that promotion of 600 to 700 employees had been pending since 2016.

The situation had developed to that extent as the university had stopped holding meetings of the finance committee, he said.