MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): Renowned journalist and senior analyst Khawaja Ansar Siddique exposed the tales of corruption from the University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (UAJK), the first and largest university in the state.
While talking in the Kashmir Digital Podcast, Khawaja Ansar claimed that the Vice Chancellor of UAJK, Professor Dr. Muhammad Kaleem Abbasi, has been under constant allegations for the past several years. “He has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor for the past eight years, and his term has been extended for the second time,” the journalist claimed.
The Vice-Chancellor, whose term will end on May 2, is accused of stealing the data of a student from Islamabad among many others. Despite multiple allegations and pending cases against him, Dr. Kaleem was re-appointed as Vice Chancellor after completing the first four years of his term.
Khawaja Ansar Siddique, while interviewing Aslam Mir, said that according to the audit report of 2023 and 2024, the UAJK Vice-Chancellor took an additional Rs80 million in salary and no investigation has been done yet. Similarly, countless cases are pending in the courts.
In another scandal, Siddique said that the university administration started work on pharmacy education in the Health Sciences Department, which was a big step in the history of Muzaffarabad, but the Vice Chancellor wasted four years at first.
The administration kept placing advertisements for the pharmacy department, however, the Pharmacy Council of Pakistan visited the university in Muzzaffarbad and found that the university was not meeting the criteria of pharmacy. The Pharmacy Council expressed a strong reaction in its letter.
After four years, on December 12, 2024, the Vice Chancellor made appointments for the Pharmacy Department, but contrary to the rules of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), he made recommended appointments by bypassing PhD and MPhil holder candidates.
The institution is being destroyed under a well-thought-out conspiracy, Siddique told Kashmir Digital.
Since 2016, a person has been appointed as a visiting teacher in the university, whose academic qualifications did not meet the criteria of the relevant department. Despite this, the Vice Chancellor appointed the individual due to the political influence and issued a notification stating this person as the founder of the Pharmacy Department.
The university Vice Chancellor ignored successful candidates of NTS and appointed the candidate recommended on political grounds.
