KARACHI, Dec 14: Political parties on Friday poured scorn on the health department decision of cancelling the results of entrance tests, conducted by the Institute of Business Administration for the second time, which has agonized at least 5,500 students.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement deplored the cancellation of the entrance tests given by the IBA for the second time, demanding that those responsible for irregularities should be punished.

In a statment, the coordination committee of the MQM criticized the decision and asked President General Pervez Musharraf to take note of the cancellation of the tests.

The coordination committee expressed surprise over the fact that those elements who were responsible for the irregularities and leakages in the first test had again been entrusted the job of preparing papers for the second test.

It noted that the director of the IBA had admitted serious malpractice in the IBA test yet the health department of the government of Sindh, which was already being accused of massive corruption, cancelled the entire test rather then withholding the results of 35 suspected cases.

The MQM was of the view that such an action had put the parents and the students under tremendous mental and financial stress apart from endangering the future of the harassed students.

The coordination committee maintained that cancellation of the test twice was a clear injustice with the students who had worked very hard twice to appear in the examination.

PPP: The acting secretary-general of the Pakistan People’s Party, Raza Rabbani, also deplored the cancellation of the IBA test results.

“There is no need for such an aptitude test over and above the normal intermediate examinations. If the aptitude tests are mandatory then why the students and parents are burdened with regular studies,” he noted.

He said that such a practice would make a mess of the educational system which was already in a shambles.

The government decision had made the credibility of the system questionable, he said.

TI: Tehrik-i-Insaf Secretary-General Mairaj Muhammad Khan has criticized the Sindh health department for penalizing thousands of students and their parents by cancelling the results of the entrance test conducted by the IBA on Nov 15.

Mr Khan said that it was a gross injustice with the students seeking admission to the government medical colleges that they were put to tests again and again for the lapses of the IBA.

The TI leader urged the governor to look into the examination procedure of the intermediate board so that in future there remained no need for the entrance tests by the IBA or any other institution.

He also asked the governor to review the decision of cancellation of results because it punished those who had obtained good marks in the previous test.

JI: Jamaat-i-Islami Deputy Chief Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, condemning the irresponsible attitude of the administration and the government regarding admission to medical colleges, said that the students of Karachi had been facing agony and confusion about the admission policy in medical colleges.

The government, he said, by formulating a new policy every now and then had been creating problems for the students.

“By cancelling the results of the second entrance tests conducted by the IBA, the health department has added to the anguish of parents and the students,” he noted.

Prof Ghafoor said that the government should give admission to all those students who had been declared successful.

The JI leader called upon the government to review its admission policy in medical colleges.

IJT: The city Nazim of the Islami Jamiat Talaba, Nusratullah, asked the Sindh governor to take action against those IBA officials who had conducted the entrance tests and those students who had resorted to irregularities.