BAHAWALPUR: Students on Wednesday protested cancellation of chief minister’s visit to the city, who was to distribute laptops among college and university students at Islamia University’s Baghdadul Jadid campus.

The students were holding placards inscribed with slogans against cancellation of the CM’s visit, saying it deprived them of laptops they were expecting to get.

Besides holding a protest demonstration, they took out a procession that passed through various roads of the city. A varsity bus was also seen during the protest.

IUB public relations officer, however, denied involvement of any varsity student in the demonstration.

He claimed that the protesters misused the name of IUB and that the demonstration was held outside the varsity. He also claimed that the IUB bus was not part of the protest.

He told Dawn that out of thousands of students who were to be given laptops by the chief minister, only 539 belonged to the IUB. He said the laptop distribution ceremony was jointly organised by the district administration and the local directorate of colleges, while the IUB only spared its auditorium for the event.

Colleges Director Dr Mahmoodul Hassan said about 7,000 boys and girls students of 31 colleges of the division were enlisted for laptops distribution ceremony.

DISAPPOINTED: PML-N workers were disappointed with the return of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to Lahore on Tuesday night and the abrupt postponement of his scheduled visit to Bahawalpur on Wednesday.

According to the earlier programme, the CM had an overnight stay at the local Circuit House after his Lodhran visit on Tuesday.

The PML-N workers, office-bearers and parliamentarians were to be given an audience by the CM during the dinner on Tuesday night at the Circuit House.

But, the chief minister, after his Lodhran visit, reached the Bahawalpur airport from where he flew to Lahore.

The abrupt change of CM’s schedule caused disappointment among workers who hoped to meet him on Wednesday for the resolution of their problems after the ceremony of the distribution of laptops among students.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2017