20 January 2005	Thursday	09 Zilhaj 1425

LAHORE, Jan 19: The Muttahida Tulaba Mahaz (MTM) will launch a protest campaign against the alleged approval by the Punjab government regarding Aga Khan University Board's operations in Punjab.

"If the Punjab government does not announce its policy immediately, the MTM will hold protest demonstrations along with teachers soon after Eidul Azha," said Pakistan MTM president Babar Farooq Raheemi while speaking at a news conference here on Wednesday. Central leaders of all student unions were also present on the occasion.

Mr Raheemi, also the president of Students Federation Ahl-i-Hadith, said that all students organizations were so far making peaceful protest against the AKUB by holding seminars and other awareness programmes. But, he said, as of now the Punjab government had failed to clarify that it stopped the AKUB from functioning in Punjab.

The MTM president said the Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan had already announced the rejection of the AKUB. But, he said, the Punjab government had learnt to have allowed the AKUB to affiliate private sector educational institutions. He claimed that a private school-chain in Punjab had already got affiliation with the board.

He said the Punjab government was compromising country's ideological sovereignty by allowing the board to function. About ban on student unions, he unanimously announced that neither they accepted General Pervez Musharraf's government nor his policies.

He said that dictators had always imposed restrictions on students unions. The Supreme Court had restored student unions but the government did not hold elections. He said that all student unions rejected ban on student unions.

The student union leaders said that they would hold functions by force, if any university administration tried to stop their functions on university campuses.

Mr Raheemi said the IJT had recently organized its function in Punjab University despite the fact that its administration tried to interrupt power supply to the function venue. He said the students had then besieged the VC office and gave him a 'strong message'.

With regard to attack on the Lahore Press Club, ISO secretary-general Fazal Abbas Naqvi said the ISO did not own this attack. He said the ISO had organized a protest demonstration on Thursday and the attack was made by Madressah students on Friday. He said the Madressah students were not members of the ISO.