QAU closed for third week as students refuse to budge

Islamabad :Deadlock between protesting students and the administration of Quaid-i-Azam University continued on Tuesday with academic activities suspended for 14 consecutive days.

Higher Education Commission chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad’s intervention, too, didn't make protesters budge.

Protesting the recent expulsion of their colleagues over campus violence, higher fee, poor facilities and shortage of hostels since Oct 4, the Quaidian Students Federation activists have forcibly stopped teachers from taking classes and locked administration offices. A number of students representing two ethnic councils had an armed clash in May this year, injuring several. Some of the culpable students were expelled and others were rusticated, while many were fined.

QAU Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Ashraf claimed that the main demand of the protesters was to reverse penalties imposed on their colleagues, especially expulsion, over the recent violence but he didn’t have the authority to do so.

In a related development, the administration called an emergency meeting of the Syndicate, the university’s supreme decision-making body, on Oct 20 to decide the matter. However, the protesters didn’t allow the resumption of academic and administrative affairs on campus. They even smashed the windows of the cars of some faculty members, who tried to visit their offices. In a bid to resolve the crisis, HEC chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad met protesters on Monday and assured them of the early resolution of their grievances through provision of adequate funds to the administration.

He even said the students expelled for minor violations of discipline should be restored though those involved in armed clashes deserved no leniency. However, the protesting students refused to call off strike until their demands were met, especially the restoration of expelled students.