41 responses so far ↓

• 1 raza // Apr 23, 2008 at 2:46 pm

  Dean should have let him graduate …. It’s very very sad.

• 2 suneel // Apr 23, 2008 at 3:21 pm

  i dont think we can make policies differently for every case the incident is sad though may his soul rest in peace but it surely is shaking incident
  and has made every one sad :(

• 3 Abid Jaffri // Apr 23, 2008 at 3:40 pm

  Hashir was a great fun loving guy.. he worked with me as a summer intern in the Brand Activation department at Unilever. I gave him above average rating in all the areas. He was confident, energetic, and street smart individual I am soo shocked to hear this. .. its really hard to believe what happened. May his soul rest in peace. May God give strength to his family.

• 4 raza // Apr 23, 2008 at 3:48 pm

  then what went wrong and where ? Nobody even knew he was so depressed.

• 5 Abid Jaffri // Apr 23, 2008 at 4:04 pm

  I dont know what went wrong but there has to be a reason why his academics were suffering so much towards the end… ???

• 6 Mee // Apr 23, 2008 at 5:08 pm

  There should be a student counselor, someone like star trek’s counselor troi

• 7 hassan // Apr 23, 2008 at 5:12 pm

  GPAs suffering in the last academic year is common in lums. Except the very top of students almost everyone loose their GPAs in the final year.
  its just shocking ..

• 8 maira // Apr 23, 2008 at 5:33 pm

  there is a student counselor at Lums who is really very good. but no one ever goes to her.I think this has more to do with the culture of Pakistan…going to a counselor is like a public declaration that the patient is crazy.
  i am really very moved to hear about this.he was in my batch and seemed like a really fun loving guy.May his soul rest in peace…and may god forgive him.

• 9 raza // Apr 23, 2008 at 5:35 pm

  I heard students are pissed off at administration … is there any part of the blame is to fall on LUMS faculty/administration ?

• 10 maira // Apr 23, 2008 at 5:55 pm

  I am really deeply moved by the death of hashir. But i really dont think its because LUMS expelled him he committed suicide.. in lums u dont get an F in every course just like that, unless and until u dont open the book for even a second. so may be there was something which he was really tensed about and this is why his grades were being affected. i dont know… but i cant stop thinking about his younger brother, who found him dead like that…his parents…May Allah give them patience. His namaz-e-Janaza is today at 530 pm Pakistan time. May his soul rest in peace.

• 11 ayesha // Apr 23, 2008 at 6:12 pm

  It’s not a lums policy/culture issue, i rather think that academic pressure is a global issue. There is so much competition out there, that if you don’t excel academically, you dont have a future. Kids who aren’t naturally blessed with the best brains suffer for no fault of their own and are ridiculued and seen as non serious or not trying hard enough. What people don’t realize is that at the end of the day alot of things are God given and beyond your control.

• 12 Ali // Apr 23, 2008 at 9:45 pm

  SHOCKING!

  But I don’t think LUMS administration has anything to do with this. There could have been so many reasons as to why he took this step.

  Secondly, being calm doesn’t mean he wasn’t severely depressed. Also I am sure he didn’t decide this on the spur of the moment.

  In any case, may his soul rest in peace, Amen. Probably we would never know what went wrong…

• 13 Sarah // Apr 23, 2008 at 9:51 pm

  I heard the news on T.V first and then confirmed it from my friend who’s studying at LUMS. This is a very shocking incident but the administration is to be blamed as well…i completely agree with Ayesha’s post and i think that top notch universities like LUMS should pay more attention towards their students and should observe and evaluate each student’s performance, specially those who are not performing well…the thing that i dont understand is that its not a piece of cake to get into LUMS, only those who have the potential and the right capabilities end up getting in…so if he was a bad student, i cant believe he was this bad that the admin had to seperate him and put him on a probation period….secondly, the parents of such children should encourage them rather discourage them and put their child’s confidence, even his life at sake…

• 14 Alumni // Apr 23, 2008 at 9:55 pm

  Our purpose is not to compete in this world but hereafter. Unfortunately those who lag behind are put under intense pressure. May Allah guide us and enable us to recognize our real purpose.
  I use to be around the same campus and rooms. May Allah forgive him and give his family patience. Ameen.

• 15 aiaza // Apr 24, 2008 at 2:42 pm

  thats really very sad and I feel deeply sorry for Hashir’s parents and his brother. I do not blame the LUMS admin for all this. GPA going down is a very common thing in lums and that alone could not be the reason for something like this.
  I totally agree with Maira’s post that one only gets an F in a course if you are not concerned about your grades at all.
  May his soul rest in peace and may Allah forgive him. Ameen.

• 16 -Usman // Apr 24, 2008 at 7:01 pm

  Sad :(

• 17 Zainab // Apr 24, 2008 at 11:49 pm

  He was a really great and loving person… He was under the stress of studies and thats it. I just wanted to tell Sarah that the parents neber discouraged him thats all rumors. Infact, when the letter reached the parents, he had already committed suicide. anyways Just saying that he was an amazing person. May Allah forgive his sins and may he rest in peace.

• 18 Waqaace // Apr 25, 2008 at 12:33 am

  I can well understand the intensity & frailness of the situation. It certainly is a hard trial and a tough condition to tackle when you are not performing well. Being a univeristy, espacially being a LUMS student is never easy. But thing necessary at this point must be parents backing, because their influence can help a great deal in dealing with such low moments. And one definitely needs to get up once again when he’s down rather putting in deepest of pessimism and committing something that has been strictly adjucated by Islam.
  There is certainly a lesson be learnt not for students only, for the humans in general; how it may be the worst of the trials after falling down dont see how much the wounds had hurt you try finding the anti-dote in a very efficient and quickest of times before this be-littling factor brings you to the stage when your brain ,heart stops giving the response. Ultimately leading to such a sad incident which occured .
  May Allah forgive him, reward for his whatever good deeds he has done in this world.
  This world surely a testing trial period, only those succeed who completely emerges a new person after hardest of trails as a new hard man; there certainly is no room for those who want to leave the battle ground and retreating to no where.

• 19 lumsalum // Apr 25, 2008 at 1:41 am

  under the stress of studies? hello! It takes almost no effort to get passing grades at LUMS. If he were under the stress of studies, why was he separated not once but twice?

  We may never be able to find the exact reasons behind this tragedy but does not seem like he was interested in academics.

• 20 Muhammad // Apr 25, 2008 at 2:58 am

  i just got the call from pakistan abt this shocking news….i am also lums almni.he was from my own batch 2007..was nice lovalble and friendly guy…hundred percent agree with lumsalum…. its really effortless to pass a course in lums….i dont know but i really doubt that it was just study pressure…..i heard the rumors that lums administration all of a sudden increased the min GPA requirement to 2.8 n he was over obcessed with that……..i dont know what exactly happened but its ofcourse a chocking news……sad
  my his soul rest in heavens n may Allah give patience to his family

• 21 Rizwan A. Quraishi // Apr 25, 2008 at 9:07 am

  This news story contains an error. Hashir had not been re-admitted into the program once before. He had gone on probation before, but he’d never dropped out before this incident, so it never came to re-admission. Please correct this, and refrain from stating such news when you’re uninformed. No one’s at liberty to speculate like this.

• 22 Abid Jaffri // Apr 25, 2008 at 9:46 am

  Dear All,
  Let me restate my self, He worked under me as an intern for 2 months. He was smart, intellegent and a confident individual. Also, he had great interpersonal skills. Passing courses at lums would not be difficult for a guy like him. There is definately a reason why he was underperforming. I am still in a shock and cannot believe what he did. I really pray that God forgives him.

• 23 Aasim // Apr 25, 2008 at 12:12 pm

  Really depressing and dreadful incident.
  I wonder, how his mates didnt come to know he is depressed?

  May his soul rest in peace(Amin).

• 24 Rizwan A. Quraishi // Apr 25, 2008 at 12:28 pm

  no one knows for sure if he was depressed. a lot of his friends had spoken to him very recently and he had sounded as normal as ever. he’d never even hinted at this sort of behavior during all those years i lived with him. i encourage all of you to depart from the speculation of ‘how’. as difficult as it is to do that when you’re in the news business, it is just not appropriate at this point in time to make half-informed announcements over how and why. it would be far more worthwhile to avoid making public forums such as these your your only sources of information, especially when no one appears to be exercising any care in disseminating that information, and especially when a large number of people who never had close contact with Hashir now appear to be acutely aware of what happened and why. imagine the irrelevance of all this to the deceased and his family. also, writers at such forums should avoid the level of detail that the writer of this news story has adapted. what good does it do to serve these details? it is not up to any one to say that he was depressed, or not, or whatever. the reasons went with him and our responsibility is to either maintain dignified silence or pray for his forgiveness. the anger and frustration at the LUMS admin is understandable, but it ought to be measured, because its a matter of life and death, please be careful in raising a finger at parties and individuals, we do not want to incriminate people and institutions for the sake of subsiding our anger and finding quick closure, the means to address the LUMS administration and faculty is by emailing vice chancellor at zahoor@lums.edu.pk and the dean at jadoon@lums.edu.pk. in any case, what’ll help most at this point is to channel your concerns regarding the responsibilities to these addresses, and to pray for Hashir and patience for his family.

• 25 izza // Apr 25, 2008 at 2:19 pm

  its a very depressing news. and i feel extremely sorry for hashir;s family .. May God give them strength and patience. May God forgive him for his sin. ameen

• 26 Nadia // Apr 25, 2008 at 11:48 pm

  I think the Lums administration is at fault here - year after year they change policies and turn to students with a “deal with it” attitude. Yes its in their right to change academic policies when they wish, but they cannot apply them on students in their final years. Obviously this boy had other problems, but this incident makes the lack of concern that Babar Ali and his pals have for students very clear.

• 27 Nizar // Apr 26, 2008 at 1:51 am

  Hashir was a good friend from my summer internship at PSO. Came to me as a shock and still can’t believe that someone like Hashir can actually commit suicide out of depression. Someone who was so close to life.

  If it was the stress I’m sure some student counselor at LUMS could’ve helped. I don’t feel referring to one is a public statement of you being crazy. I’ve been to many to help me with my academic issues.

  Hashir is someone I’ll always miss and believe the administration should learn a lesson out of this incident.

• 28 ahmed // Apr 27, 2008 at 5:21 am

  This is the first time it happens, so we cant put all the blame to college administration, but they must review their policies. This poor student must be highly dipressed. Administration must also consider and observe failed students for pshycatric evaluation.

• 29 --- // Apr 29, 2008 at 1:37 am

  i wont just blame LUMS but the education system in Pakistan. I did my BBA from US and they have the same policy there; if your GPA falls below the certain level you are put on probation and then kicked of the program, which does not mean that you are kicked out of the university but instead have to choose a different major which may require lower GPA. If you do not meet that requirement either then you can transfer your credits to another university which may not be as good in repute but would still be acceptable and can still graduate from there. But in Pakistan, if you drop out from a uni like LUMS where do you go from there…and Lums should keep that in mind. They get the cream of the cream of pakistan…so these students are bright people…they should not follow the west book by book and word for word.
  I would like to share my personal experience and i hope students and especially faculty of lums reads this….
  when i was in states in my final semister i needed a B and a C in my final 2 of the 4 courses I was taking. i ended up with a C and a D. The entire semister i was doing very good and was expecting an A and a B and i really messed up the final. And for this i would not be able to graduate. And it is a horrible feeling. But then i went to my professor..and pleaded with him and told him that because of this grade i will not be able to gradute. They reviewed my case and my performance the entire semister and agreed to improve my grade from D to C and from C to B.
  I wonder if LUMS would do that..and let me tell you I am talking about a very reputed institution..
  So we need more options in Pakistan before we ruin someones life. Very Sad Indeed.

• 30 Imran // Apr 29, 2008 at 1:20 pm

  This is really a sad news and I agree with the above mentioned experience of my brother.
  LUMS should think about their squizing policies.
  It really felt so depressing for a student to be expelled or restricated due to academic reasons.
  Policies sholud be made to encourage the students rather discouraging.
  My all sympathies are with the family of Hashir.
  It is impossible to cover the loss they are facing now.

• 31 Nostalgic // Apr 29, 2008 at 3:54 pm

  I think its totally LUMS fualty and people dependent evaluation system that is to blame. I have heard from Dr. Shahid Masud that in admission interview they asked a student question prove that God exists? This is just one example. In my own interview at LUMS Dr. Ashraf Iqbal was abusive as well as rude. Though I got admission later on. I hundred percent blame to LUMS administration for the sad incident. There is lot of frustration in LUMS atmosphere due to its open culture as well. It can also be one of the factors.

• 32 faiza // Apr 30, 2008 at 4:43 pm

  I have been in LUMS for six years of my life and have experienced the worst of all having been through the MBA program where sometimes you have five working weekends in a row. Whenever we complained, the faculty would proudly say - we want to see how much pressure you can take till you crack - we’ve had bad days but there were good days too…in the end we all survived only to become tougher….I have also been through the BSc program and I can say this with surity that compared to what we did in school it is clearly some “Thand Program” - BSc’s only study during mid terms or finals and those who study every day make it to the dean’s list - thanks to all of us who bring the mean down! Pressure is really not the name of the game and the University’s policies however erratic give you four years to straighten your act to gain the maturity to step into real life.
  I was hurt, upset and angry at this incident. This University is not just my institution it is my second home, where i broke down and then built myself up….However when I saw Hashir’s face I remembered this kid and he never seemed like he was under pressure or unhappy! I hope Allah forgives him and gives his family the strength to live through this incident but I also think that we have the tendency to blame the most apparent reasons. Half the people who try to commit suicide in LUMS do so because they are either on drugs and alcohol or have lost in “love” or because its the fashionable way out. Its just the way a lot of the Luminities are turning into aetheists….its just fashionable….However I do not wish to undermine the feelings of any family member or friend at this difficult time. Just want to tell you all that maybe we should not always blame the system but also see what is it that we are not doing to live through it.

• 33 hammad bashir // May 2, 2008 at 9:04 am

  Recently, a couple of LUMS graduates living abroad have started an education and career consulting platform where they provide voluntary consulting services related to education problems and decisions.

  The good thing is that its open to all students and not just luminites. You can ask them any question for free at http://pkstudent.com

• 34 Z // May 4, 2008 at 1:05 am

  I personally believe that all of us should stop talking.. cause seriously the guy is gone.. and to comment abt what was depressing or rather the cause is pointless. All of the discussion show that Hashir was an amazing guy.. and we must all pray to Allah that he receives the ultimate bliss he was looking for.Amen.

• 35 amir // May 4, 2008 at 3:27 pm

  Z: I think your approach of not discussing represents a general trend with our nation … I think there is a lot to learn for everyone from this discussion

• 36 Z // May 4, 2008 at 5:45 pm

  i didnt mean that..yes there is ALOT to be learned but instead of wondering the ways of what lead to the incident is pointless… counselors, teachers should all join hands and make a differance… and people who didnt know Hashir have no right to comment about him.

• 37 Z // May 4, 2008 at 5:46 pm

  And we all make a difference once we start correcting ourselves..

• 38 LUMSALUMNI // May 5, 2008 at 9:59 pm

  I am very sad to hear about this incident and hope that Allah gives Hashir’s family patience to endure this calamity.

  During my 4 year stay at LUMS, I closely examined the grading system which itself is very erratic. Moreover how does a number judge whether you are better or worse than someone else. The sad fact is that we have become a world of quantity not quality. We prefer to quantify people in a mechanistic manner ignoring the dream, aspirations and hopes that exist in every single individual.

  Never ending competition in life, work, education and even play has made us an overly competitive world ignoring the meaning of what life stands for.

  Hashir was a sad victim of the system. May Allah bless his soul.

• 39 Shakil Ahmad // May 18, 2008 at 11:45 am

  A student even with lowest grade can perform good in professional life, and at the stage of near to complete his degree university should think that how much time and money he has spent on his study, and should find out the root cause of his poor performance, and univesity admins should think of their curicullum that; Is there system dynamic and flexible that an average student attemp the exams with some of his knowledge from experience, thinking, and knowledge from environment, and without Rattafying books all the nights, to answer such sort of questions: “Mukhtalif Janwroon ki jild kasi hoti hai..? the best Ans. in Pakistan Institution would be; ” Mukhtalif Janwroon ki jild Mukhtalif hoti hai..” and the student who answers the question would get 100 percent…”

  A final Year Student is unable to provide the answer he will be on probation or dropped and had to re-admit for the course to learn… “Mukhtalif Janwroon ki jild mukhtalif hoti hai…”

  Yes.! Hashir a muslim brother of mine, A Sad Victim of System…! May Allah Bless His Soul (Amin)

• 40 Aras // Jun 9, 2008 at 12:30 am

  an academician and a teacher at one of very prestigious institutions of pakistan i would like to offer my condolences to his family. May Allah rest his soul in peace… I wish we cud just know wat went rong and yes easier said than done its lot harder to talk about wat is depressing you I have many a times seen it in unis as well…I am rite now 24 and yes teaching and I feel pakistani unis are not bad …its just dat we r entangled as a nation in this act of Outcasting people if they cant present well talk well are from mediocre backgrnds students themselves start outcasting other students den other factors like study pressure play in…Wat is the role of teachers? yes role of teachers is identify students which is i am telling u very observable frankly as a teacher i knw u can easily understand where politics of class is leaning towards teachers has to build up values in class … yes world is ruthless but let that phase be experienced once he is in real world …rite now give him a helping hand rather than shrugging it off as its not teachers responsibility and yes i have been doing dat since i started teaching R uni environments r suffocating and depict glaring disparities existing in r societies MAY GOD REST HIS SOUL IN peace! AMEEN!

• 41 subhyal // Jul 2, 2008 at 1:33 pm

  i think its a result of the crappy educational system of pakistan

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