ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: Police baton-charged and thrashed protesting students, including girls, of a private medical college outside the Parliament House during Senate session on Tuesday evening.

The incident took place in the presence of Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed who had come out at the main gate to take some journalists inside with him. These journalists had been stopped by the police for having entry cards of the previous sessions.

The police resorted to baton-charge when some 50 to 60 protesting students of Islamabad Medical and Dental College tried to stop a flag-car coming out of the Parliament House.

The students were staging a sit-in against non-recognition of their institution and wanted to meet the health minister to apprise him of their problems. The protesters also accused the police of misbehaving with girl students and making obscene gestures.

One of the students told Dawn that the college administration had put the future of over 250 students at stake. She said the administration had been assuring them for the past several years that the institution would be recognized soon. She said the college administration collected heavy fees from them, but it did not care about their future. Another angry student held the government responsible for all this situation as it had taken no steps to check mushroom growth of such institutions.