KARACHI, June 23: The students of Sindh Medical College, who are on a strike, set ablaze their textbooks outside the Karachi Press Club on Monday to protest against the alleged indifferent attitude of the authorities.
About 50 students, including the female ones, who had gone on a hunger strike on June 16 torched their books, laboratory coats and copies of documents to condemn the alleged apathy of the government functionaries towards the educational issues, besides their failure to ensure justice in their case.
The situation turned particularly grim when one of the protesting students tried
to immolate himself in the fire engulfing the books and coats.
The young man, who was saved by his colleagues, said desperation resulting from the attitude of the provincial executive and others at the helm of affairs had compelled the students to involve themselves in uncalled for activities, including burning of educational documents and stoles of female students.
In another development, a deputy convener of Muttahida Qaumi Movement — Nasreen Jalil, who had come to the KPC for a press conference — visited the protesting students in their camp and listened to their grievances.
She said she would try to get the students’ problems resolved on humanitarian grounds at the earliest, said one of the students’ representatives, adding that she had invited their delegation to 90 Azizabad, the Muttahida’s headquarters.
A couple of Muttahida’s legislators, in visits to the camp during the week, had hinted that their party would be willing to take up the students’ issue after the byelection in NA-255.
Meanwhile, the affected students were of the view that the issue of regularization of their admissions was being delayed for no genuine reason. The chief minister had sympathies for the students and had promised to order the regularization of the admissions of fourth and final year students on priority basis, they claimed.
Some six months ago the college officials had challenged the authenticity of admissions given to about 150 students of SMC. Since then the students have been in hot water.
Their major demands included regularization of admissions, holding of examinations and action against government officials involved in the alleged admission scam.
