PESHAWAR: The Peshawar University Teachers Association (PUTA) on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the continued non-payment of salaries and pensions to faculty members, employees and pensioners of the University of Peshawar for the last two months.
In a statement issued here, PUTA said the teaching community, university employees and pensioners had been facing unprecedented hardships, while both the university administration and the provincial government had failed to demonstrate the urgency and commitment required to resolve the issue.
The association said the prolonged silence and inaction had created the impression that the sufferings of teachers, employees and pensioners had become an accepted administrative norm rather than an emergency requiring immediate intervention.
PUTA also voiced concern over the gradual erosion of the academic legacy and prestige of the University of Peshawar. It said that instead of preparing for the upcoming academic session, the university remained trapped in financial paralysis and uncertainty, a situation that threatened not only the welfare of employees but also the quality of higher education and research in the province.
“We urge the University Administration to move beyond routine office proceedings and engage in persistent, meaningful and result-oriented efforts with the provincial government until a sustainable financial solution is secured. Silence and passive observation can no longer substitute for decisive leadership,” said PUTA president Dr Zakirullah Jan.
The association expressed disappointment that, despite repeated assurances, the provincial government had failed to allocate sufficient financial resources in the current budget to address the university’s chronic fiscal crisis.
It urged the government to explore all lawful financial options to prevent the institution from sliding further into crisis, including diverting a small portion of available provincial resources from funds such as the Provincial Zakat Fund or the Revitalisation of Peshawar Project to ensure the immediate payment of outstanding salaries and pensions.
PUTA maintained that public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had suffered from persistent neglect, chronic underfunding and administrative interference for more than a decade. It said institutions of higher learning should be treated as engines of knowledge, innovation and socio-economic development rather than being subjected to financial uncertainty and erosion of institutional autonomy.
The association stressed that investing in the University of Peshawar was an investment in the intellectual future of the province, adding that teachers deserved respect, pensioners deserved dignity and employees were entitled to receive their lawful earnings without delay.
Reiterating that the teaching fraternity had exercised patience and restraint despite prolonged hardships, PUTA called on the provincial government to take immediate steps to resolve the crisis before irreversible damage was inflicted on the province’s premier institution of higher learning.
