MUZAFFARABAD: (Arqam Maqbool) – The University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (UAJK) is grappling with a financial deficit exceeding Rs1 billion, as academic and administrative staff continue to face delayed salary increases and unpaid dues, raising fears of a complete shutdown of all five campuses.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Academic Staff Association (ASA) President Dr Rehana Kausar and Administrative Staff Association (AdSA) President Israr Saeed Qadri said employees had not received the salary increase announced for the current financial year despite a lapse of seven months.
They announced February 1 as the deadline for the AJK government to take concrete measures, warning that all campuses would be closed on February 2, followed by a march towards the Legislative Assembly, if their demands were not met.
The representatives said more than 30 employees had retired without receiving pension payments or leave encashment, while families of deceased employees were still awaiting financial assistance. Several staff members suffering from serious illnesses, including cancer and heart disease, were facing additional hardship due to unpaid medical bills.
They traced the crisis to the separation of UAJK’s campuses into independent universities without proper financial planning, which resulted in the transfer of assets worth billions of rupees while liabilities remained with the parent institution. Declining student enrolment and the freezing of government grants after the devolution of higher education under the 18th Constitutional Amendment further aggravated the situation.
According to the staff associations, UAJK was currently receiving a grossly inadequate annual grant of only Rs3.5 million from the AJK government, as a result of which, annual salary increases had been delayed for several years, unlike other government and semi-government institutions in AJK.
They said university employees had been observing a partial boycott of teaching and administrative work for the past week, but no meaningful response had been received.
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Salik Rashid Abbasi and Sharif Awan, representing two organisations of government employees, expressed solidarity with the UAJK staff and warned of wider protests if the issue remained unresolved.
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