Zaighum, posted a status on his Facebook profile, highlighting his four-year-long teaching career in the university, and the grounds on which his contract has not been renewed by GCU administration. The teacher said that he was recently informed ‘verbally’ that his contract would not be renewed, on grounds that he was being ‘political’ and vocal against the issues students and teachers had been facing every day on campus. He said, despite his long professional service to the institute, the administration did not even bother to inform him through a written termination notice.
He said that the rumored reason for his contract termination was that he empowered students to engage in political activities. “I want to state proudly that I invited my students to be open, rational and taught them to engage in critical debates. I cultivated a culture of dialogue and engagement, and taught my students to question everything which had been fed to them. These were the activities that the myopic men on campus could neither digest nor tolerate,” the teacher said on social media.
While highlighting his teaching career at the university, he said: “during my past four years as a lecturer at GC University, I loved my job so much that I elected to live away from my family in Gilgit, believing that at least I was contributing something meaningful to society and the country at large.”
Historian and activist Ammar Ali Jan took to Twitter, to condemn this act of GCU administration. He said that Zaighum has been fired just for speaking on ‘student rights’. He said, earlier Dr. Amir Iqbal was fired for ‘exposing’ administration’s corruption. “Teachers who speak for rights are targeted. Critical thinking is under attack on campuses,” he added.
https://twitter.com/ammaralijan/status/1237791919272595456?s=20