MUZAFFARABAD, March 12: The strike by the students of the AJK University entered the eighth day on Wednesday with the striking students vowing to continue the boycott of classes till the acceptance of their 12-point charter of demands.

The strike began on March 5 after the varsity administration refused to allow some 16 students of the LLB department for appearing in the examinations, which were to commence after two days.

The university was closed for preparation holidays on January 4, but in the middle of February, 16 of the total 38 students of the department came to know that their admission forms were not sent to the examination department because their overall attendance was below 75 per cent. All those students had already deposited fees and other dues in accordance with the schedule.

However, Shujaat Kazmi, one of the affected students, told Dawn that the attendance issue was just a “lame excuse” and the real reason for withholding their admissions was “their active role in exposing the malpractice in the university and demanding an end to it besides to redress the students’ grievances”.

“We used every possible and decent mean to persuade the varsity administration to allow us to appear in the exams but they did not accept our demands ostensibly to punish us for our role,” he said.

The refusal compelled the students from almost all departments to go on strike on March 5 and since then they were boycotting the classes to voice their protest, he added.

Interestingly, the remaining 22 students of the LLB department also refused to take papers, only to express solidarity with their 16 colleagues as well as to protest the decision of the varsity administration against them. They had vowed not to sit in the papers.

In the meanwhile, the administration issued notices to more than a dozen students to explain “as to why they had instigated the student community to boycott the classes and thus vitiated the atmosphere of the institution”.

Mr Kazmi had also received such notice on March 5, whereby he was given a week’s period to clarify his position. However, without waiting for the passage of seven days, the varsity administration through a notice, affixed on the notice boards on the varsity premises, declared that he had been expelled from the institution.

On Wednesday, the striking students held a demonstration in the old campus and announced in their speeches that they would not end their protest and boycott unless their charter of demands was accepted by the administration.