The administration of Karachi University (KU) recently stopped Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, professor of international relations at Dhaka University, from participating in a conference organised at the campus on Wednesday.
According to Pakistan's daily the Dawn, the decision came on Tuesday, only a day before the conference started. The newspaper cited that the KU administration responded to some organisation's pressure.
"The university took the step following a meeting of the vice chancellor with representatives of a student organisation that strongly objected to the professor’s participation in the conference."
Professor Imtiaz was the keynote speaker at the conference titled “Challenges of Transition in Social Sciences” organised by KU faculty of social sciences.
The report read: "Imtiaz Ahmed, also director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at Dhaka University, had been to Pakistan and the KU on different occasions, and was recently granted a visa by the Pakistani High Commission in Dhaka to attend the conference in Karachi."
Prof Moonis Ahmar, the dean of the faculty of social sciences, KU, told the Dawn: “The university administration had some concerns relating to his participation and I was requested to politely convey the message to the senior professor, which I did,” however the professor declined to comment further.
The Pakistan based newspaper also quoted University registrar Moazzam Ali Khan, who expressed his unawareness of the matter and said: “I am not aware of any university administration’s concerns. Usually when such events are organised, respective departments submit a list of speakers invited to the event but that was not done in this case.”
Their opposition, the sources said, had stemmed from the Bangladesh government’s handling of Jamaat-i-Islami leaders. According to them, a Jamaat-e-Islami leader in Bangladesh was executed for his alleged 1971 war crimes last year while some others have been sentenced to death.
President of Karachi University Teachers Society Prof Jamil Kazmi said that teachers in principle supported freedom of speech and no student organisation should be allowed to interfere in academic matters.
“Having said so, I do believe that concerns relating to Dr Imtiaz Ahmed have some genuine grounds considering his work; some of which is available on the internet. His work is controversial and, to some extent, against our country and ideology,” he said.