LARKANA: Protesting against the recent rustication of their three associates from the Bibi Aseefa Dental College, activists of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) and the Jeay Sindh Students Federation (JSSF), along with other students, held a demonstration and a sit-in outside the vice chancellor’s secretariat on Wednesday causing blockage of several roads around the venue for hours.

Led by JSQM general secretary Athar Soomro, Ashraf Kalhoro and others, the protesters kept raising slogans against the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) administration for rusticating the three students.

One of them, Zain Khaskheli, attempted self-immolation during the protest but was saved by fellow students, who moaned that the college administration was compelling students to commit suicide this way.

The protesters also demanded the release two of the rusticated students — Ghulam Hussain

Gamb and Kashif Shar — arrested at the Chandka Medical College canteen earlier in the day; and steps leading to an early recognition of the dental college by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. The three students were rusticated for vitiating academic atmosphere on the campus.

The entire area around the protest venue witnessed severe traffic jams and congestion on many roads in the city.

Several hundred schoolchildren returning home were among those who remained confined to their vehicles on roads for a couple of hours.

DSP Yar Mohammed Rind held negotiations with the protesters and persuaded them to disperse peacefully.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2016