UET Taxila students end protest after VC meets demands

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UET Taxila students protest against university policies and support of extremism. —Photo by author
UET Taxila students protest against university policies and support of extremism. —Photo by author

Students of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila ended their protest on Monday after the university's vice chancellor accepted their demands.

The vice chancellor confirmed that some of the students' demands are being immediately addressed. A notification to this effect is expected to be issued soon.

Earlier, while protesting against the university's policies and lack of facilities at their campus, the students had accused the university's administration of "condoning religious extremism" and "supporting extremists".

The students also presented an 18-point agenda in a letter to the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The protesting students claimed that the administration was "pushing" them towards religious extremism and complained that some of their teachers had been preaching about their own sects during classes.

The students also asked why they were issued show-cause notices if they were seen talking to students of the opposite gender. They are also not allowed to sit in groups comprising both male and female students, even though UET Taxila is a co-educational institution, they alleged.

Raising concerns over the lack of facilities in both male and female hostels, the students also demanded that female students not be confined to their hostels after 3:30pm.

They also complained that the university does not allow events like farewell and welcome parties and asked why educational tours to local industries have not been organised in the past two years.

"We are not allowed to celebrate anything in our university, not even independence day," the letter said.

The students also accused members of the university administration of regularly using threats and even physical violence to intimidate students.

Among the students' other demands were a call for improvement in the quality of food and drinking water on campus, which they claim are a "health hazard" right now.

Read: Extremist minds on campus

The UET students' protest has come on the heels of a resumption in student protests at the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU). After three weeks of disruption, QAU had reopened last week following police action against students, which resulted in several arrests.

Seemingly learning from the QAU students, the students protesting at UET had refused to accept their vice chancellor's invitation to negotiate in his office, fearing that those involved in the negotiations could be expelled, like those at QAU were.

They had instead demanded that the vice chancellor negotiate and make any announcement in front of all students.

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