Summary
- They said that the provincial cabinet, especially higher education minister Meena Khan has politicized the matter because they are out to harm Ali Amin Gandapur who is the political heavyweight from Dera Ismail Khan.
- They said Meena Khan is not harming Ali Amin Gandapur by politicizing Gomal University matters and backing the alleged corrupt elements.
- They said that in dragging Gomal University matters into politics, the provincial minister is actually inflicting harm to the higher education sector of the province which he is supposed to protect and promote.
By Areeb Zaidi
DI Khan: Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi told Minute Mirror Sunday that the provincial government has literally destroyed the universities and Higher Education sector of the province.
The Governor was commenting on the controversy that continues to thicken around Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan.
Dera Ismail Khan is the hometown of political heavyweights like Governor Kundi, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Ali Amin Gandapur and his brother.
It is unfortunate that this important University has been left at the mercy of corrupt elements who turn out one scandal after an other, Iftikhar Sherazi, an investigative media editor from DI Khan, based in Islamabad, told Minute Mirror.
The university has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons since incumbent vice chancellor Zafar Iqbal took over this institution.
Senior faculty and other staff members of the university and locals of the city have been raising their voice against what they call illegal recruitments and corruption in the handling of university affairs. The university has issued appointment letters to over 250 people, setting off a storm of protests and outcry.
“Ali Amin Gandapur and his brother are sons of the soil. These two brothers are the only politicians who stay in the city and live among the people of Dera Ismail Khan. In any elections, it is a safe bet that these two brothers will have overwhelming majority vote from the province from the city because of the services they have rendered to the area,” said Syed Kashif Ali, an investigative journalist from the area.
“It is logical that jobs and other economic opportunities being generated in there are meant for the residents of the city in the first place. People from outside the city have caused subversive activities more often than not; so, it is not advisable for the institutions like Gomal University to ignore people of the city at the time of recruitments for the sake of peace in the region,” he said.
It amounts to murder of merit to deny capable and qualified people from the city and from Gomal University promotions and recruitments, he said
University officials say the university is unable to pay salaries and pension to the existing staff, questioning the rationale to make new recruitments.
Professor Shakeebullah, Vice Chancellor of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Swat, told Minute Mirror that he was in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the sake of performing Hajj.
He said that he has nothing to do with any scandal related to Gomal University. He said that he was part of an inquiry committee formed by the Higher Education Department on 21-11-2025 to investigate allegations of 100 illegal recruitments, supply of drugs in hostel and use of fire arms on campus in Gomal University.
He said of that the TORs of the committee are very clear and he had nothing to do with any latest scandal of Gomal University.
Professor Shakeebullah did not share with Minute Mirror findings of his inquiry. The provincial Higher Education Department initiated three inquiries into alleged corruption and sale and purchase of jobs, smuggling of drugs in hostels and other accusations of very serious nature since Zafar Iqbal took charge as the vice chancellor of Gomla University.
The people who know the development and who are in the university are of the opinion that these inquiries were meant to cover up these corruption scandals and silence the public outcry about them. They said that each time the HED initiated and enquiry into corruption charges against the Vice Chancellor and other decision makers of the university it failed to fix responsibility. They said Higher Education Minister Meena Khan has openly congratulation a very controversial candidate who got promotion in the allegedly illegal selection board so any hope for a fair inquiry against the allergy corrupt management of the university by the Anti-Corruption Establishment has died down.
They said that the provincial cabinet, especially higher education minister Meena Khan has politicized the matter because they are out to harm Ali Amin Gandapur who is the political heavyweight from Dera Ismail Khan.
They said Meena Khan is not harming Ali Amin Gandapur by politicizing Gomal University matters and backing the alleged corrupt elements. They said that in dragging Gomal University matters into politics, the provincial minister is actually inflicting harm to the higher education sector of the province which he is supposed to protect and promote.
To conclude, Governor Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi said that the provincial government has destroyed universities of the province.
He said that the universities have gone bankrupt as they neither have funds to pay salaries nor pensions. He said that the universities are not under Governor as the chief minister has taken universities under his command. He said the province’s higher education has been in a disarray for the past 15 years.
Minute Mirror sent questions
to vice chancellor Zafar Iqbal, his personal secretary Abid Rahman and registrar Zahir Shah Marwat but none of them was able to answer.
