Police break up students’ protest against ‘unfair’ marking

TIMERGARA: The police here on Monday fired warning shots and baton-charged the students protesting against the Board of Intermediate and Secondary education (BISE) Malakand, saying they were awarded fewer marks in this year’s intermediate examination.

Dozens of students from government and private colleges had gathered at the Shaheed Chowk outside the Timergara Press Club and blocked the road for vehicular traffic. The students were demanding rechecking of the papers. They believed the board had awarded them less marks and declared thousands of students as unsuccessful to collect money from them in the name of re-appearing in the examination. The police fired shots into the air and baton-charged the protesters when they refused to open the road to traffic.

The protesters dispersed after police action while some were taken into custody. Some of the protesters were slightly injured in the melee. A total of 10,015 students were declared unsuccessful in the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) examinations Part-I while 4,600 students could not get through in Part-II.

Meanwhile, officials of the Elite Force allegedly misbehaved with Ihsanullah Shakir, vice-president of the Timergara Press Club when he tried to make a video of the police action. The policemen tried to snatch his camera and mobile phone.

Later the journalists staged a protest demonstration and chanted slogans against the police officials. They condemned the police action against the journalist covering the event. The journalists demanded immediate action against the cops. Taking notice of the protest, District Police Officer Ikramullah ordered an inquiry into the incident.