- A senior official says IIUI admin allows ‘religious’ groups to use loudspeakers; refuses to give this facility to political, ethnic groups
ISLAMABAD: The students’ unions of the International Islamic University of Islamabad (IIUI) have locked down the university campus on Monday, demanding a unified ‘code of conduct’ for this higher educational institution.
The Islamia United Students Federation (IUSF) and Pushtoon students staged a protest strike due to which the educational activities remained suspended in the university. The university administration called the police personnel to deal with any untoward situation.
The students blamed the police that a student negotiator was arrested and demanded that they would not start negotiation until release of their leader (negotiator). They refused to budge an inch until acceptance of their demands. However, the university administration has to accept their main demands of a new code of conduct of the university, resultantly the students ended their protests and dispersed peacefully.
The students said that they were protesting due to the serious problems facing the students to which the university has paid no attention to solve them despite giving them assurance numbers of time. The IUSF has decided that they would keep their protest until acceptance of their demands i.e., degree fee should be restored and five per cent increase in fee according to HEC criteria; construction of new hostels and male cafeteria issues.
They also demanded that female cafeteria issues should be solved on an immediate basis, besides making sure the availability of medicines in the hospital. They also demanded that new buses should be provided to the female students; the culprits involved in the harassment of females in the library should be rusticated.
They demanded that the hostel parking issue should be solved immediately; a new code of conduct of the university must be signed in which all students have been given equal rights and opportunities and special attention should be given to maintenance of the Kuwait hostels. However, IIUI spokesperson Nasir Farid said that the students ended their protest after successful meetings with the university administration.
He said that the students wanted a code of conduct in the university, which was accepted as it was already there and the copy was given to them. He said that according to the code of conduct, the students have to take prior permission for their programmes and functions to which the students agreed.
However, a senior university official wishing anonymity told Pakistan Today that the university administration treated the student unions differently; as some were allowed to carry out their activities as per their aspirations while others were denied. He said that the so-called religious groups were allowed to use loudspeakers during their various functions and seminars but the political and ethnic groups were denied the use of loudspeaker which was their justified demand.
The official said that the university administration could not bring normalcy to the situation until perusing a unified and uniform policy and given all the student unions equal opportunities and respect.
