Former Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan Dr Tariq Banuri entered the race for the Chairman HEC slot at the last minute, Academia Magazine learnt. Dr Tariq Banuri, on the other hand, denied the reports of meeting any political leader.
Reliable sources at the Federal Ministry of Education and Profession Training (MoFEPT) have told Academia Magazine that former Chairman HEC Dr Tariq Banuri has met a highly influential political leader from the ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) who assured him to be selected as Chairman on condition of “Another Chance”.
The highly influential political leader has assured Banuri that he will take Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the loop just to award Banuri another chance for the betterment of the Higher Education sector, sources claimed.
It was also learnt that the Search Committee for Chairman HEC has held a meeting in which all the non-members were asked to leave the room. The committee chose three names which include two persons on merit and one unknown who is said to be not on merit.
However, it is worthy to mention here that the secretary Federal Minister of Education Naheed Shah Durrani herself dropped the summary of names to the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Dr Tauqeer Shah by hand.
Led by Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer Ahmad the committee also included Vice-Chancellor Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) Prof Dr Zia ul-Qayyum, Former Vice-Chancellor Information Technology University (ITU) Dr Umar Saif, Secretary Ministry of Education and Professional Training Naheed Shah Durrani, Chairman Punjab Red Crescent (PRCS) Justice (R) Sheikh Ahmed Farooq, and Vice-Chancellor, Balochistan University of Engineering and Information Technology (BUITEMS) Ahmed Farooq Bazai.
However, former chairman Dr Tariq Banuri’s tenure remains controversial and he was also de-seated by the President of Pakistan for almost nine months when Islamabad High Court (IHC) restored his position. During these nine months, the Commission worked without any chairman.
