ISLAMABAD - Former chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr. Tariq Banuri on Wednesday urged the Prime Minister to reconsider his removal decision.

Talking to media here at Press Club, Dr. Tariq Banuri said, “The government works according to rules, while last week, the government acted against the rules.”

He said that a law was made in a very non-conventional way for one person only in which the government said that we would not allow anyone to work independently. 

Dr. Tariq Banuri said that personal issues also come up but he would avoid talking about them. “This is a human rights and legal rights issue, as well as it is also an issue of the education department,” he said

He alleged that there was a lot of pressure to do some illegal things so that some people could make money. “If this decision is upheld, it will not be beneficial for all educational institutions,” he said. 

“I would say we can’t make our own decisions. I also ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to reconsider this issue,” he said.

Dr. Tariq Banuri said that tenure protection was provided in the laws of Higher Education and one could not be removed during the tenure. “A decision can only be made after the tenure is completed,” said Dr. Tariq.

He said that in a very strange way, the protection law had been abolished. “This sends a clear message that the officials of any institution can be removed at any time.”

Dr. Tariq Banuri said that the job of a regulator was to set standards, not to please and not let things go below that standard. “Our interest is to improve university education. Substandard research is being practiced and its improvement is intended,” he said. 

The teachers’ job was not to please the students but to educate them. “A commission has been formed and its objective is to improve the education sector. Six thousand six hundred scholarships have been awarded since the establishment of HEC,” he added.