QUETTA: Over 50 students from different districts of Balochistan were taken into custody and several others were injured on Wednesday after police baton-charged them for staging a sit-in at Edhi Chowk to protest against alleged irregularities in the online entry test conducted by the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) for admission to Bolan Medical College.

Hundreds of male and female students had appeared in the online test conducted by the PMC from Islamabad for 300 seats of Bolan Medical College.

The chairman of the Students Action Committee, Haseebullah Baloch, told journalists that the questions included in the paper were out of course and these had nothing to do with the subjects the students had studied.

He also complained that gross irregularities had also been found in the results announced by the PMC.

Sit-in held outside Quetta Press Club

“The candidates who are yet to appear in some papers for the online test have also been declared fail without giving them the chance even to appear in those papers,” Mr Baloch said.

He demanded an inquiry into these irregularities and said that future of hundreds of students of Balochistan was at stake because of this injustice committed by the PMC.

Earlier, hundreds of male and female students came to the provincial capital from different parts of Balochistan to stage a protest rally against what they claimed injustice by the PMC and irregularities in the online entry test.

They assembled at the Hali Road area and tried to march towards the Balochistan Assembly building to inform the lawmakers about the alleged injustice.

However, police reached there and resorted to baton charge during which dozens of students were injured.

The protesting students also chanted slogans against the Pakistan Medical Commission and suspended all kinds of traffic on Zarghoon Road.

They also tried to march towards the Red Zone where houses of the governor and chief minister and offices of civil secretariat were located, but police stopped the students and baton-charged them.

Later, the students gathered in front of the Quetta Press Club and held a sit-in there. They announced that they would continue their protest sit-in till the acceptance of their demands.

They demanded action against the police personnel who brutally beaten them up.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove, while taking notice of the incident, sought a report from the authorities concerned.

He expressed concern over the violence against the students and ordered release of all arrested students.

However, the students continued their sit-in in front of the Quetta Press Club till late in the night.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2021