PESHAWAR: The University of Peshawar (UoP) has rejected as baseless the charges levelled by a suspended teacher who had accused certain top officials of the university administration of threatening him.

Mohammad Zubair, a suspended teacher of the Law College, University of Peshawar, had written a letter to the commandant of Campus Police recently stating that he had been receiving life threats from the Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Azmat Hayat Khan and other officials after he exposed the alleged plagiarism by the vice-chancellor.

The university administration in a statement issued here said an independent inquiry was conducted after Zubair claimed that he had received life threats.

It said the inquiry committee comprising senior professors including Prof Dr Adnan Sarwar Khan, Principal Law College, Prof Dr Misal Zada, Law College, Dr Fazalur Rehman, provost, and Ishtiaqullah Khan, director administration, filed its report recently and it was then submitted to the Governor Masood Kausar, who is also chancellor of the university.

The university clarification said it was for the first time in the history of the University of Peshawar that a committee asked the vice-chancellor and the registrar to explain their position regarding an allegation against them.

It said the issue between Zubair and Tariq Afghan, who led a group of students that met Zubair in the Law College, was actually about messages posted on the Facebook.

The statement by the university said: “Tariq Afghan told the committee that he and his friends got angry due to the insulting messages posted by Zubair on the Facebook against him and his friends. He said the vice-chancellor, registrar and Dr Ahmed Ali Ajez, a lecturer at the Pashto Department, had no involvement whatsoever in the issue.”

The statement said the vice-chancellor, registrar and Ahmed Ali Ajez were unnecessarily dragged into the matter as link could not be established between the accusation and the facts.

The university spokesman said Zubair had been suspended in another case, adding it seemed he wanted to defame the vice-chancellor and the registrar.

It contended that Zubair was unable to prove his allegations even though he was provided opportunities to do so. It said the inquiry committee was of the unanimous opinion that the allegations were levelled on mala fide basis as Zubair wanted to settle scores with the vice-chancellor and the registrar.

Regarding the LLM degree of the suspended teacher, the university maintained that the issue was raised by one Usman Ali Khan some 15 months ago following Zubair’s promotion as assistant professor. “Usman was of the opinion that Zubair’s LLM degree was a fake and he must not be promoted as assistant professor. A fact-finding committee of the university has recommended his degree for cancellation,” the university statement added.The news.