Peshawar, The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) declared to close all the public sector varsities in the Pakhtunkhwa province for an indefinite time to protest the government’s failure to recover Ajmal Khan, vice-chancellor of Islamia College University (ICU).

The decision was taken in a meeting of the association, which was held after the release of the second video of the kidnapped vice-chancellor. “No classes will be held till the safe recovery of Ajmal Khan and his driver,” said Dr Fida Mohammad, provincial president of FAPUASA, while talking to media.

He said the representatives of teachers associations of all the public universities were present at the meeting, which expressed deep concern over the ineffectiveness of government, as it failed to recover the kidnapped VC.

Ajmal Khan along with his driver was kidnapped on September 7 when he was on his way to office. The militants released a second video of Ajmal Khan on Sunday. In the video he appealed to his community, students, workers and leaders of Awami National Party (ANP) to make efforts for his early release. He also called for negotiations with militants and accepting their demands before the deadline of November 20.

Dr Fida said the government had failed to recover the kidnapped vice-chancellor and after the release of the video they were left with no other option but to close all the public sector universities for an indefinite period. He said from Monday (today) no classes would be held in any of the public sector universities.

“The government should negotiate with the militants and safely recover Ajmal Khan and his driver,” he stressed, appealing to the private sector universities to show solidarity with them and also close down their institutions.