BZU Lahore campus affiliation: Protest enters second day as fate of students hangs in the balance

• Management, students request govts’ intervention to settle issue
• HEC says committee formed on PM Sharif’s order to resolve matter

Students of the Bahauddin Zakariya University’s (BZU) Lahore campus continued their protest for the second consecutive day on Tuesday after the BZU Multan (main) campus refused to accept it as its legal sub campus.

The protesting students demanded affiliation of the Lahore campus with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) as well as the BZU Multan campus.

BZU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Khwaja Alqama has already been arrested on charges of corruption, irregularities and unlawful establishment of the academy campus in Lahore.

Meanwhile, the BZU Lahore campus on Tuesday requested the federal and Punjab governments to intervene to settle the issue of affiliation of the sub campus.

The request was submitted with Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood and the Higher Education Department secretary by a delegation of teachers and students from the BZU Lahore campus.

The delegates, including Academics and Operations Director Prof Dr Muhammad Moazzam, Law Department Vice-Principal Ghulam Sarwar Nihung and Media Studies teacher Imtiazul Haq, apprised the minister and HED secretary that the BZU sub-campus had fulfilled all the formalities before it started enrollment and academic activities.

But now, they added, after the lapse of more than two years, the BZU Multan and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) had refused to accept the Lahore campus as its sub campus.

The delegates told the minister that unrest among the students had soared over the matter and they were on a protest for the past two days.

Education Minister Rana Mashhood and the HED secretary listened to the students and management sympathetically and assured that the issue would be resolved within a few days.

Meanwhile, HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that the affiliation issue of the BZU Lahore campus would soon be resolved as per directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Addressing a press conference here, Ahmed said he was directed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take immediate steps for protecting the future of students.

He said he gave a briefing to the prime minister on the issue on Tuesday, and was directed to sort out the issue without compromising the quality of education and abiding by legal requirements.

Mukhtar said a four-member committee had been set up to address the issue and the BZU vice-chancellor was also its member.

The committee, he said, would also visit all the universities both in public and private sectors, their campuses and affiliated colleges and submit its report to the HEC.

The commission, he said, would take action in the light of the report against those educational institutions which were operating illegally.