A delegation of almost 30 parents of children at the Pakistan International School Jeddah-English Section (PISJ-ES) met with the consul general on Saturday and called for the removal of the school’s controversial former principal.

The crisis involves Sehar Kamran who refuses to vacate her position after being sacked on Tuesday by Mohammed Naeem Khan, the Pakistan ambassador, for alleged corruption. Kamran denies the charges and accuses the Pakistan diplomatic mission of playing “dirty politics.”

The parents told Aftab Khokher, the consul general, that Kamran should accept that the Pakistan ambassador has the authority to fire her because the previous ambassador appointed her in 2009.

They accused Kamran of holding parents and teachers “hostage.” They claimed she has little time to meet parents and listen to their complaints because she is constantly in Pakistan attending meetings of the country’s Upper House of Parliament. She became a member in 2012 on a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) ticket.

Another parent, Imran Khan, said the parents want a principal that is not affiliated to any political party. The parents also slammed Kamran for events last Wednesday when she abruptly closed the school and sent an SMS message to parents for them to pick up their children and announced that the school would be closed on Thursday.

“This created chaos because all the fathers of the children were at work and it was quite difficult for them to collect their kids from school on such short notice,” said Zulfiqar Ali, a parent.

The parents said they want an educationist who can run the school in an efficient way. “We will not let the school be closed because of the personal, vested interests of a few individuals. This school belongs to the Pakistani community and is not a privately run institution,” said Faisal Khan, a parent.

Khokher said the school was established by the government of Pakistan and that the consulate and embassy oversees the facility.

“This school was established in 1999 when the prime minister at that time came to Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani community requested it to establish an English medium school for children. The land belongs to PISJ-Azizia school,” he said.

He said the embassy and the consulate has always been involved in the school’s management and supervised its accounts since its inception. The school accounts are signed by the ambassador, which proves that it is linked to the embassy. Khokher told the parents and press that in 2009 when she was working as an acting principal she wrote a note to the link officer asking to become the principal. The link officer sent the note to the ambassador at the time, who then appointed her as the principal.

Khokher said there was no school management committee (SMC) at the school. However, an SMC would be established and overseen by the consulate and embassy, as required under Saudi law.

Link officers are appointed to coordinate communication between community schools and embassies and consulates in the Kingdom. He said a qualified and transparent principal would be appointed, and that there should not be politics at schools.