Kashmiri scholar accuses Pakistani supervisor of threats

Close on the heels of two Pakistani students being awarded PhDs by the University of Kashmir, a scholar from Jammu and Kashmir has accused his supervisor at the Quaid-e-Azam University here of blackmail, torture and threats.
Ishrat Naveed, who belongs to Budgam district, completed a PhD at the prestigious Pakistani varsity after he joined its Department of Biotechnology under a SAARC exchange programme three years ago.
"The way my supervisor/guide...Behaved during my research is difficult to narrate and wastes two complete years of my career," he said in a statement.
Naveed alleged his supervisor had "continuously emotionally blackmailed, tortured and (made) threats till the last moment of degree".

He accused the supervisor of threatening him about "hailing from India" and making false allegations that he was involved in spying.
Naveed further claimed the supervisor had taken away all his research samples in his absence and distributed them among other students in an effort to sideline him.

The scholar alleged the main reason behind the supervisor's actions was to "grab" the funding of Pakistani Rs 9.58 million he received for research in plant biochemistry and molecular biology.
He said the supervisor did not allow him to visit Srinagar when his sister, who had cardiac problems, fell ill in 2011 and subsequently died.

Naveed, currently working in the Department of Biotechnology, said he had registered a complaint against his supervisor with Quaid-e-Azam University and Pakistan's Higher Education Commission but no action has been taken so far.
He congratulated Pakistani students Nadia Mehr and Raja Nazakat Ali Khan on their successful completion of PhDs from the University of Kashmir under a South Asia Foundation programme.
Mehr, who hails from Lahore, became the first Pakistani woman to complete her doctorate from the Srinagar-based varsity. She did her thesis on "The development of science, technology, arts and language during the Sultanate Period in Kashmir".
Khan did his thesis on "Indus Waters Treaty: A geo-polotical study" from the University of Kashmir in October.