LARKANA: Police on Friday produced five detained ‘suspects’, including the official in charge of the Sindh University’s Larkana campus, in the court of the fifth judicial magistrate to obtain their remand but brought them back to the lock-up as the time for court proceedings was over.

The official, Bisharat Abbasi, his brother Shafqat Abbasi, and two private security guards posted on the campus, Qutubuddin Channa, and Rustam Kori, along with two other persons, Iqbal Kalhoro and Anwar Kalhoro, were taken into custody amid a protest by students over lack of certain facilities supposed to be provided to them by the campus administration.

The protesting students alleged that the official in charge of the campus and the guards holding and waving firearms harassed them during the protest.

A strong contingent of police drawn from the Waleed and Civil Line police stations led by the DSP and SHOs concerned entered the campus to bring the situation under control on the request of the administration.

The detained people were kept in the lock-up of the Waleed police station overnight. The police said they would again be produced before the magistrate on Saturday for a remand.

Meanwhile, the fact-finding committee comprising SU Dadu campus pro-VC Prof Dr Anwar Ali Shah, Thatta campus pro-VC Prof Dr Sarfraz Solangi and SU public administration chairman at Jamshoro Dr Mohammed Bukhsh Burdi started its work on Friday by recording statements of the people concerned.

The committee would submit its report along with recommendations with SU Vice Chancellor Dr Abida Tahirani in a couple of days, said Prof Shah.

The committee recorded statements of a teacher, Mahesh Kumar, students Adeeb Chandio, Kashif Soomro, Adnan Wahocho, Siraj Bhutto, Ali Nawaz Mugheri and Safi Mirani, and the journalists present on the campus during the incident.

Prof Shah said that the theory papers suspended due to the unrest would be rescheduled and the new dates would be announced soon by the departments concerned.

According to sources, the students in their written statement submitted with the committee demanded removal of official in charge Bisharat Abbasi and coordinator Hakim Ali Kanasro of the campus. They also demanded a fully-fledged building for the campus and provision of all essential facilities including point-bus, library, sports ground, workshops and teaching staff in adequate number.

Sindh University syndicate member Irfana Mallah on Friday condemned the Thursday incident on the Larkana campus and criticised “the negative role of the police that landed a lecturer of philosophy in the lock-up”. Demanding his release, she claimed that the professor was busy conducting the exam while resisting students’ protest.

She termed the protesting students’ demands ‘illegal’.

Ms Mallah said the government should either look after SU campuses administratively, academically and financially or close them down.

She claimed that the provincial government did allocate a sum of Rs50 million for the campuses but released the funds just a couple of months before the end of the financial year.

“How is it possible to utilise the whole year’s funds within two months?” she asked.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2015

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