LAHORE: A camp was set up by the students outside the Lahore Press Club on Friday to extend their solidarity with the students of Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, and the Islamic University, Bahawalpur, on the termination of their reserved quota of scholarships.

BZU students have been protesting for 24 days against the cancellation of the reserved quota of defunct Fata and Balochistan. The administration says that the Balochistan government was a defaulter and that no further expenses of these students can be taken on.

“In 2008, a reserved seat quota was initiated for students of Balochistan in numerous public universities of Punjab,” said a student. “These measures were taken under PPP government’s Aghaz-i-Haqooq Balochistan package, which not only promised free education but also hostel accommodations. Unfortunately, those vague promises soon started to take a turn for worse as another structural drama of open merit reduced those reserved quotas to merely two percent.”

Another student said that those from peripheral areas were already denied the basic right of education in their own districts and divisions.

“Such discriminatory termination of reserved seats is not only a violation of the agreement but is also a systemic attempt to further deprive them,” he said. The administration, he said, in these universities have clearly declared that after the reduction in HEC budget, it was not possible for them to bear their expenses.

“Undeniably, thecenter’s adjustment with the IMF is just to benefit the industrialists and what the government cannot afford is the tuition of students,” he said.

The protest was organised by the Baloch Solidarity Committee Lahore.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2020