May 15, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 27, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 14: Considering the prevailing security situation in the capital city, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has postponed its three-day annual students convention which was scheduled to start on May 20.

Officials involved in organising the event told Dawn that though the decision was yet to be made public it had been decided in principle that the event would be organised some time later.

For the last over four years, the HEC has been organising the students convention on an annual basis during which top debaters from higher educational institutions are selected to speak their mind on a given topic.

President General Pervez Musharraf attended the last three conventions as chief guest and listened to the speeches of the students.

Under the HEC convention format, at the initial state debate competitions are held at the university level, then at provincial level and finally successful orators are selected to take part in the national students convention.

This year too, the HEC had almost completed the necessary arrangements. However, at the eleventh hour it was decided by the high-ups of the HEC to postpone the event.

In reply to a question, an official in the HEC said, “We will see when it would be feasible because under current situation we can not give a final date because things seem getting messier with every passing day.”

To another question, the official accepted that some of the participating students, especially females, had declined to travel to Islamabad citing security concerns.

“Since, it’s a students show, without their participation the HEC can not move forward with the programme,” he added.