IBA reinstates student Mohammad Gibrail after expelling him from the Institute of Business Administration Karachi (IBA) on Tuesday. The decision came a week after expelling him for reporting an alleged harassment incident at the varsity on social media.
Gibrail, who saw an employee of IBA’s finance department allegedly shouting at and threatening a female employee, took to Facebook to post what he witnessed. He later refused IBA’s request to delete the post. Consequently, a disciplinary procedure was initiated.
Later, the student refused IBA’s request to remove the post. Additionally, the concerned female employee filed a complaint with the IBA’s anti-harassment committee. It is yet to announce its findings.
Issuing a statement, IBA justified the expulsion of Gibrail. It cited that the student of IBA used social media to report the incident instead of using the “right channels” established by the institute.
Gibrail, who hails from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat, was on a full scholarship. The star student was set to graduate in two months. JIbran Nasir, the student’s lawyer, said that Gibrail was “thrown out” of the campus. They did not even allow him to collect his possessions from the IBA hostel.
The case led to protests from IBA students and a social media backlash against the IBA’s decision to expel the student. Many described it as a “gross overreaction” and “extremely unfair”. A series of protests also ensued on the IBA campus over the past four weeks with hundreds of students protesting against harassment and Gibrail’s victimization.
The institute reinstates Gibrail
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the IBA said its Executive Director S. Akbar Zaidi had conducted a hearing of Gibrail’s appeal against the disciplinary committee’s decision to expel him on Sept 29.
During the hearing, the student “reaffirmed his respect for the IBA and the executive director and his commitment to the institution”. Gibrail also “withdrew those parts of his appeal which were unrelated to his expulsion”, the statement said, without elaborating. Following this, the executive director “reinstated Gibrail as a student of the IBA with immediate effect”.
“The IBA looks forward to all stakeholders, including students, engaging in a responsible, healthy, and constructive discourse with the aim of taking the institution to new heights,” the statement added. Jibran Nasir, the lawyer for Gibrail, confirms that IBA reinstates the student after expelling him.
“Congratulations to all students! Gibrael’s admission on appeal to [IBA executive director] has been restored unconditionally,” Nasir tweeted, saying the executive director had also “committed reforms to make IBA safer, give students representation in admin affairs and expeditious and transparent inquiry into [the] harassment case”.
Nasir said the student’s reinstatement “once again shows the power and potential of student organization and protest”.
“We need free political environment on campus, [and] vibrant & robust student bodies/unions, that’s the only way to empower youth and prepare it for leadership roles,” he wrote.
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