A year on, slain KU professor Dr Waheed’s family awaits justice, compensation

KARACHI: A year after the murder of University of Karachi (KU) faculty member Dr Syed Waheed-ur-Rehman, the unidentified gunmen remain at large, and what adds insult to the injury is the Sindh government’s failure to pay his family the promised monetary compensation of Rs50 million.

Observing his first death anniversary, teachers at the mass communication department on Friday warned of boycotting semester examination scheduled to begin on May 19, if the government failed to deliver on its promise before the date.

Dr Rehman, referred to by his peers and colleagues by his pen-name Yasir Rizvi, was on his way to the varsity from his residence in Federal B Area when he was shot dead near the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD) by unidentified gunmen on the morning of April 29, last year. His body was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Besides calling for payment of the compensation money, the teachers also put forward demands of constituting a judicial commission as well as a joint investigation team to conduct a thorough probe into his cold-blooded murder.

Also a close associate of slain Prof Dr Muhammad Shakeel Auj – dean of KU’s Faculty of Islamic Studies – Dr Rehman was according to initial reports targeted over his efforts to get Prof Auj’s murder solved.

However, the apathy of the law enforcers was apparent from the fact that they first claimed the murders, of both the professors, were committed by arrested activists of a political party, only to back track months later with claims of the killings being carried out by a faction of al-Qaeda, the al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

Arrests were claimed to have been made yet again, but the law enforcers were still to clarify who killed the academicians and why. 

The varsity’s vice chancellor, Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser otherwise known for his politeness lashed out at the Sindh government for failing to ensure provision of justice to families of both the teachers.

He said it was the government’s fault that Dr Rehman’s murderers were roaming around as free men.

“It is unfortunate to know that the chief minister who had at many occasions guaranteed provision of justice failed to deliver on his promises.”

Remembering the professor, Prof Qaiser said he was a great human being and a teacher who was always busy in research and academic work; his demise was a national tragedy.

The VC further informed that the matter of paying Dr Rehman’s family a pension from the university’s funds would be taken up at the next meeting of the varsity’s syndicate scheduled for May.

President of Karachi University Teachers Society’s, Dr Shakeel Farooqui, observed that teachers had raised the issue on every forum and would continue to do so.

The former president KUTS and member KU Syndicate, Professor Dr Jamil Kazmi mentioned that he found Dr Rehman as great human being. “We had talked to the government on several occasions for the compensation to his family but the government has not been able fulfill the commitments till yet.”

Chairperson KU’s Department of Mass Communication Prof Dr Seemi Naghmana, chairperson of mass communication department at the Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology (Fuuast) Porf Dr Tauseef Ahmed, former president KUTS and members KU syndicate Dr Jamil Kazmi and seasoned journalist Abid Hussain were among several other faculty members who spoke at the reference.

They remembered him for his humility and the principles he aggressively stood by. His students believed he was irreplaceable and his services for not just the mass communication department but also the varsity could never be forgotten. 

A concerned fellow journalist of Dr Rehman’s while remembering his colleague said that he used to advise every graduate of the department to necessarily pursue their MPhil and PhD degrees, while his advice for fellow journalists was to become a visiting faculty member of the university.

 —Originally published in The News