Is there any place left for highly qualified people having international acclamation in Pakistani institutes?
Pakistan has less space for honest, dedicated, internationally recognised people in the arena of public sector educational institutions? Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif is considered as a man of vision and he wishes to save this country from brain drains and wish to make to make Pakistan a tiger of South Asia. Can he make his dreams a reality in such a system where there is no room for world best educationist? This is a question that must be answer by those who believe in vision of Mian Nawaz Sharif. Unfortunate to say, main stream media is refraining from raising voice against such important issues.
A number people Pakistanis working abroad in the field of education came in Pakistan to serve their country but they had to leave this country due to humiliation, insults and derogation. One of the case is of Dr Professor Aftab Kazi, PhD (Pittsburgh) Senior Fellow, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, SAIS Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC 20036 USA.
Whatever has been done against this foreign professor of HEC is a long story and his letter to Vice Chancellor Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad is self-explanatory and narrating whole story. The letter is posted hereunder without any editing. Since Dr. Kazi and university are locked in legal fight, therefore Dispatch News Desk (DND) does not take responsibility of allegations and counter allegations and just to post this story for keeping people update what is going on in the heighest institute of the country.
Letter written by Dr. Kazi to VC starts hereunder:
Dear Honorable Vice Chancellor:
First of all, I am grateful to you for being as kind and courteous to me during my short tenure as a visiting Higher Education Commission foreign professor at QAU. I am also surprised and hereby apprise you that I am being harassed and deliberately victimized for approximately over the last five months, largely by the hands of your personal secretary. I mention this for the following reasons:
1. On May 18, I applied for the conference and research leave to travel to Central Asia for July and August (research and travel are required by FFHP/HEC from foreign professors as a part of performance evaluation). Approximately five months have passed that the leave has not been approved causing unnecessary problems for my salaries of July and August at HEC. Long wait without avail, led me to travel because of the appointments I had scheduled for research interviews in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Such high level appointments do not come easily. As such, because of the unnecessary delay and professional reasons I had no choice, but to travel.
2. Moreover, FFHP/HEC has already approved my contract extension until January 31, 2014. FFHP has been waiting for a considerably long time to hear from your office with required Performa’s (related to my performance, etc.). I personally hand delivered these Performa’s to your personal secretary on July 2, before traveling to Central Asia. Your personal secretary is now denying, if I ever handed him the papers; a very big lie on his part.
3. You may recall that I sent approximately four emails addressed directly to you from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, requesting the resolution of long delayed leave application and processing of the HEC Performa’s. Neither I received an answer from you/your office, nor have these long delayed matters been resolved. During the last week of August, I, once again, reminded you through an email from Tashkent, Uzbekistan for the resolution of these matters, albeit without response. Whether you actually received my emails (copies of some were also sent to HEC for information) through your personal secretary, I do not know. In that case, suffices here to say that your personal secretary is apparently responsible for keeping you uninformed, hence playing insincere to your person -for whatever reason that only he can explain- just as he has been ignoring my requests for meeting with you. However I should not be victimized for whatever relationship he has with you, because it is not my business.
4. Even before travelling on July 5, I sent you a letter on July 4expressing my concern about leave and the processing of my contract renewal papers to HEC. The letter was sent back to the Area Study Center without any active response, which could have helped resolve the matters. As a result, I still remain without the new contact, despite the fact that my extension until January 31, 2014 is already approved. FFHP/HEC officials have been waiting to receive your processing of the required Performa’s so enabling them to send the new contract. I have done my job in time, filling up Performa’s for your office to process, but do not know specific reasons as why the processing has been delayed. Sir, my performance as an HEC foreign professor has been excellent as demonstrated by my contributions in graduating nine M.Phil students within one year, re-creating an interesting research culture at the Area Study Center, assisting ASC research students in getting overseas fellowships, engaging ASC in wider contacts through my own professional network, representing QAU in various prestigious international conference, hence creating a positive image of the university. My students and all of the staff members of ASC are witnesses to these facts.
5. I have been requesting a meeting with you to discuss my own and other matters since late May, but without any response. Your office staff always has had some readymade answers, not the ones which could help encourage love and respect, only those which could frustrate me more.
6. Upon return from Central Asia, once again, I requested several times to your staff for a meeting. The response of your personal secretary -someone named Murtaza or so- was an insulting one. At this age and professional caliber, I do not deserve to be insulted, ignored and be vindicated by someone who cannot imagine the respect we at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University have earned worldwide through our academic and professional contributions and humility. The most terrifying behavior on his part is the fact that he is lying. I did personally hand him the FFHP/HEC Performa’s, and have repeatedly mentioned the same in my letters and emails to you from Islamabad, Bishkek and Tashkent, albeit unanswered.
Sir, I would like to know, why your personal secretary is behaving irrational and what made him to lie, and/or who instigated him to lie. If you will read all of my correspondence you will know the facts. Your secretary is damaging your good name, either by not informing you about the concerned issues and related communications or for his own reasons that I do not know. He and or his instigators are seemingly causing delays in the processing of otherwise normal matters related to my leave request and HEC contract renewal Performa’s. Sir, I have much more to say, but I will not at this moment.
I therefore request the following towards an amicable resolution:
1. Approve my leave. It has been approximately five months; even the time-period for which the leave was requested is over.
2. Process my paper for the renewal of contract with FFHP/HEC as soon as possible so that HEC is able to issue a new contract. Earlier contract expired June 30 and HEC has been waiting to hear from you.
3. Discipline your personal secretary for his misconduct. I would like to know who instigated him to engage in deliberate acts of harassment against me. I can forgive him, only if he requests an apology naming who instigated him to discriminate against me.
Sir, after January 31, 2014, I do not wish to continue servicing QAU. Long-term foreign faculty program will be discontinued by HEC and I already have other invitations from several universities of the highest caliber to join their faculties elsewhere.
Finally, I hope that your good offices will assist in the resolution of these matters as soon as possible, as time is running out.
With kind respectful regards.
Yours sincerely,
Aftab Kazi
Visiting HEC Foreign Professor
ASC, QAU
