PESHAWAR, Jun 03 (APP): Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati on Monday directed the provincial government to suspend the provost and proctor of the University of Malakand over the death of a student in a traffic accident.
Presiding over the assembly proceedings, the speaker, in his ruling, said that the university’s syndicate meeting should be convened immediately for the purpose as all the universities were under the authority of the House.
Earlier, Shafiullah Khan, on a point of order, said that the Malakand University administration had asked Musa Khan, a student of the Journalism Department, to leave the premises immediately at night for listening to music in his hostel room a few days ago.
He said that the student unfortunately met a fatal accident after leaving the university and later succumbed to his head injuries due to unavailability of a bed at Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar.
PPP’s Ahmed Kundi said that it was the government’s responsibility to protect the citizens and those involved in the incident should be brought to justice.
KP Health Minister Qasim Ali Shah, responding to the point of order, said that the student had a head injury and was first taken to a local hospital from where he was referred to HMC, Peshawar around 12 o’clock at night. However, due to unavailability of bed at the HMC it was decided to refer him to another hospital, but in the meanwhile he succumbed to his injuries.
He said that since the health services were improving in the province, therefore, the ratio of referring patients to Peshawar had decreased to 66 percent, adding that in the instant case the injured student should not have been referred to Peshawar until his condition was stabilized in the Malakand hospital.
He said that the big hospitals including HMC in Peshawar were overburdened and working beyond their capacity.
The speaker asked the minister not to justify the department and those who were responsible for the death of the student should be punished and a report be submitted to the House within a week.
The Minister of Health assured to hold an inquiry into the incident and submit a report in a week.
Former KP Assembly speaker Mushtaq Ghani said if there was no bed the serious patient could be treated on a stretcher, adding that it was the responsibility of the provost to report the student’s behaviour to his parents.
The speaker ruled that both the provost and proctor should remain under suspension till the inquiry.
Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Dr Amjad assured a transparent inquiry into the incident, implementation of the speaker’s ruling in letter and spirit and that those responsible would be punished according to the law.
Humayun Khan pointed out that the Chakdara Road was blocked today in protest against the incident, adding that a provincial inspection team should be sent to the Malakand University to check the influence of political groups in the varsity.
He said that the former vice-chancellor was involved in the students’ strike, financial corruption was on the rise in the university, the advertisements for vacancies should be cancelled.
Malik Liaquat said that water was not available for the students in the university, teachers should not oppress the students so much that they were forced to leave the universities.
The speaker deplored that the student neither received timely medical treatment in Malakand nor in Peshawar.
Fazal Hakeem said that an FIR should be lodged against the people involved, along with an inquiry into the incident.
Higher Education Minister Meena Khan Afridi said that immediately after the incident, a report was requested from the department secretary. The next day, a report was received from the vice-chancellor, which was not encouraging.
He told the House that at that time, the report was rejected and an inquiry was held under the chairmanship of the additional secretary and deputy secretary and they would submit a report on June 04. He assured that whoever was involved would be punished.
Meanwhile, the staged a demonstration to protest Musa Khan’s death. The protestors displayed placards and banners in favour of Musa Khan.