LAHORE: The Punjab University student organisations have vowed to resume protests against the administration if their demands remain unmet.

Earlier, Punjab University Students Federation (PUSF), a joint body of different organisations, including Pashtoon Education Development Movement (PEDM), consisting of Pashtoon, Baloch, Punjabi and Seraiki Councils, carried out a 40-day sit-in outside the campus and demanded reversal of fee hike, construction of new hostels, banning police entry on the campus, provision of facilities in female hostels, inclusion of female students in harassment committees, forensic audit of university budget, provision of hostel allotment facilities to students of other provinces and cities, cancellation of additional fee for transport, restarting third shift of the library, abolishing of post of director general of student affairs and starting dialogue between student organisations and the PU administration.

Meanwhile, the Islami Jamiat Tulba also raised concerns about non-provision of facilities to students. They demanded hostel allotment to evening programme students.

IJT spokesperson Fasihur Rehman said enough space was available in university hostels and students enrolled in evening programmes were not being allotted accommodation.

He said this discriminatory policy went against the principle of equal access to education and negatively impacted the academic performance of students who come from distant areas.

He said out of more than 12 gates on the campus, only two (Gate No. 1 and Gate No. 3) are open for general student use, while the rest are reserved for administration, officers, or ‘special individuals’.

He said the closure of gates was causing daily inconvenience for students, especially women and those living in hostels located far from the main gates.

Mr Rehman further said that group study was a common practice in educational institutions but at Punjab University, students were not allowed to visit other hostels. This restriction limits academic collaboration and the intellectual environment on the campus.

He said the constant heavy deployment of police on the campus on different occasions was causing problems for female students and the police officers were allegedly involved in misbehaving with students and were harassing the females.

He said that videos of such incidents were circulating on social media and the environment was leaving negative effects on the mental well-being and confidence of students.

He said if students were gathered for academic or social discussion, they were accused of “grouping” and subjected to disciplinary inquiries. “This is a blatant violation of students’ personal freedom and their right to assemble.”

PU spokesperson Khurrum Shehzad said all the gates except [gate] 9 were opened for students and only university buses and staff were allowed to enter and leave from gate 9.

He said the disciplinary actions were being taken over different types of violations as the student groups often clash with each other and security personnel.

He said the evening programmes were not allowed to get hostel allotments and it was mentioned on the admission form.

He said no discriminatory action was being taken against any student organisation and the hostels were cleared of ‘illegal’ students who had been residing for years after completion of their studies.

He said harassment committees were effectively operating with female staff representation.

Mr Shehzad said police were called for security of the students to avoid any untoward incident while the student groups often clashed with each other and security guards of the campus who tried to stop them from gathering outside any office.

He said the students were first charged over different violations and were also given chance to appear before the disciplinary committee to record their statement and provide proof for not violating any discipline.

He said restriction on hostel entry was applied to tackle theft cases and it bore considerable results while STC centres and libraries were available for combined study.

Meanwhile, PEDM on Sunday ended their sit-in after 40 days and announced that most of their demands, including allowing combined study in other hostels, allowing final semesters students to stay in hostels to complete their research work during summer vacation, HEC rules to be implemented for formation of harassment committees, cancellation of additional charges from transport and swimming pool fee, were accepted by the administration.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2025