Peshawar: Allegations are flying thick and fast that a family member of Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK) has influenced the final decision to appoint a person of suspect credentials as Vice Chancellor at University of Agriculture Peshawar.
At least one source in the provincial government (name kept anonymous on purpose) has confirmed severe violation of merit in this regard in which an alleged forger, who granted fake admissions and degrees, is now the final choice of Vice Chancellorship of the university by KPK government.
According to the information received by Saach.TV, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK) Pervez Khattak appointed Dr M Afzal as an interim vice chancellor of the University of Agriculture Peshawar for the six months period. Meanwhile, a search committee was formulated to find the most suitable person for the job. The search committee submitted the report in which top of the list was Professor Zahoor Sawati – Pride of Performance 2013 – followed by Professor Malik Arshad and Dr Afzal. But in reality Dr Afzal would probably stand last among 80 full professors as he was not qualified for Meritorious Professorship.
The official claimed that Dr Afzal is a very controversial figure and his career is littered with unseemly scandals and accusations of misconduct. Whereas Professor Zahoor was the senior most expert of his field and introduced new weed technology in KPK which ultimately revolutionized the cultivation of the wheat crop.
The source claimed that Ishaq Khattak, son of CM Khattak is hugely interested in getting Dr Afzal settled as vice chancellor. Source revealed that another famous university in Peshawar (name of the institute kept anonymous on purpose) had the vice chancellor appointed in previous government’s period. But after he made contact with the chief minister’s son, his removal was postponed.
However, Dr Afzal has other friends too. Some attribute that a close friend of the CM in Income Tax Department backed him, while others believe that the then Additional Chief Secretary made it possible.
The scandals that are being talked about in the KPK include bribery of 200,000 rupees from the female owner of a private college in Islamabad to offer fake admissions and degrees for its students. Other favours asked from the female were reported to the university, Governor KPK and Intelligence Bureau (IB).
Below are the two scanned copies of admission forms which the source termed as forged:
Complete identity of students kept anonymous on purpose
There is also the case of Abdul Latif, a secretary, who was once facing serious inquiry for issuing a fake degree to himself as Assistant Controller. Latif’s apology for the crime done is now part of official record. However, the final verdict of the case is yet to be announced by the syndicate as competent authority. Then there is the charge of misleading Controller of Examination into issuing a bogus degree to some Ms Nadia Malik.
Another source (name kept anonymous on purpose) who remained supervisor of both Dr Afzal and Professor Zahoor, told Saach.TV’s correspondent that “Dr Afzal is not an eligible person in any possible sense to be the Vice Chancellor. He is more like a thug. I have personally caught him and his associate – Abdul Latif – red handed. The reason I could not fire them was that they were gazetted officers. Technically I had no authority of firing them rather the appropriate authority was the Syndicate. However, I confirm that Dr Afzal was involved in awarding more than 60 fake admissions. Dr Afzal has been investigated by IB and NAB for receiving money from a female college owner and later in moral misconduct.”
Replying to a question, source said “I would rather not comment on how Dr Afzal managed to become the vice chancellor. But the strong belief is about the involvement of CM’s son on Dr Afzal’s appointment.”
Saach correspondent received no response at all when tried to contact administration of University of Agriculture Peshawar on its official numbers. PTI KPK officials also did not entertain our correspondent over phone call when approached.
Procedure for the appointment of VC at University of Agriculture Peshawar
Appointment of vice chancellor is purely based on CM’s advice. Summary of appointment is first sent to Governor KPK who holds customary authority of the approval. Governor sends it back to CM. CM sends it to Chief Secretary who forwards it to the Secretary Agriculture. Secretary Agriculture issues the final notification of the appointment.
