Vice chancellor seat vacant at Abdul Wali Khan University since a month

PESHAWAR: The seat for a vice chancellor at Mardan’s Abdul Wali Khan University has been lying vacant since last month, sources within the Ministry of Higher Education revealed on Sunday.

According to the sources, 25 applicants have been shortlisted for the position out of 40 candidates in total.

Three finalists are to be selected from the shortlisted applicants, names of whom will be submitted to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervaiz Khattak for approval. A new vice chancellor for the university is expected to be appointed this month, the sources added.

Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan made headlines earlier this week when Mashal Khan, a journalism student at the university, was lynched by an enraged mob on April 13 in his campus dorm room over blasphemy allegations. Five others were injured in the firing and vandalism by the violent mob.

Following the horrific killing, the campus was shut down for an indefinite period. The absence of a vice chancellor has been causing hindrances in carrying out the legal and administrative formalities, some sources familiar with the matter said.