ISLAMABAD: A handful of students, belonging to Quaid-e-Azam University’s (QAU) Balochistan Council, have besieged the country’s top-ranked university for almost a month, and has gained the attention of Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who on Tuesday directed Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration to help restore educational activities in the varsity at the earliest.
The protesting students have virtually paralysed the entire university since October 4. In latest developments, the students, after spending the whole night outside on the roads to avoid arrests by police, again started protesting in the wee hours of Tuesday by stopping buses from entering or leaving the university.
The security around the university had also been put on high alert, as police personal and anti-terrorist squad (ATC) officials were deployed there.
Keeping the gravity of the situation in view, Ahsan Iqbal eventually took notice of the issue and directed the ICT administration to ensure order and help restore educational activities in the university.
He said that only a handful of people cannot be allowed to ruin the future of thousands of students, adding that discipline inside universities should not be compromised under any circumstances.
The interior minister said that QAU was an important educational and research institution which should not be made controversial. QAU Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Ashraf also announced that the university would be opened on Wednesday.
A senior official of the university told Pakistan Today that it was a very complicated issue because the VC was using the protest for his own interest, while the university administration was pursuing its own vested interest. He said that the Academic Staff Association wanted to prolong the protest so as to strengthen the case against the VC, so as to oust him from the august post.
Similarly, the official said that the vice chancellor was facing serious allegations of mismanagement of funds after the Academic Staff Association wrote letters to Higher Education Commission chairman and federal education minister for his removal. Therefore, the vice chancellor was not addressing the demands of the protestors to buy time and complete his tenure.
Unfortunately, the students were being used for political and vested interests of some individuals sans taking into account that thousands of students were being deprived of education due to closure of classes.
Another official, seeking anonymity, said that students from Sindh Council were also expelled and rusticated, but they ended their boycott after reaching an agreement in which some of their demands were addressed by university administration. On the other hand, members of Baloch Council backtracked on their agreement and started protests all over again.
It is pertinent to mention here that on October 4, the QAU students took to protest demanding release of all the students who were expelled due to their involvement in a fight a few months ago. The students also demanded that the fee structure should be revised, new hostels constructed, buses provided, heavy fines reimbursed, while also calling for improvement in student facilities.
