HYDERABAD: Students from three universities staged a rally in Jamshoro on Monday in support of Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) candidates, alleging violation of merit and nepotism in the commission’s affairs.

Under the aegis of the Sindh Students Action Committee, students from Sindh University (SU), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology and Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences marched from the central library of the SU to the local press club, carrying banners inscribed with slogans in support of their demands. They also staged a sit-in at the Jamshoro railway crossing.

An altercation broke out between students and SU security guards after the guards prevented the students from bringing vehicles fitted with loudspeakers onto the university premises.

The march was led by Fakhar Zaman Khuhawro, Wajahat Hingorjo, Hyder Ali Channar, Zabiullah Mastoi and others. Sindh United Party leader Khuda Bux Thebo, an advocate, and Nisar Chandio, general secretary of the District Bar Association Jamshoro, were among those who joined the protest.

Addressing the rally, the leaders said the demonstration represented every school, college and university student, since it concerned the enforcement of merit, and that it was held on behalf of students due to appear in an SPSC examination on Tuesday. They rejected the results of the Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) 2024 and demanded a retest.

They called for the removal of the entire incumbent SPSC management and the reconstitution of the commission to ensure merit-based recruitment, and demanded the cancellation of the CCE 2024.

The leaders demanded that the upper age limit for the CCE be fixed at 35 years, and at 43 years for one-paper examinations, and that the number of permissible attempts for CCE candidates be raised from three to five, in line with the policy in Punjab. They warned that they would launch a hunger strike unto death if their demands were not met.

They also demanded that interviews for the engineering cadre be cancelled and reconducted through a transparent process, and called for an independent judicial commission to investigate all one-paper examinations and recruitments for BPS-16 and BPS-17 posts conducted over the past five years, with its findings made public. They further demanded that results of SPSC’s computer-based examinations be announced immediately after each test is completed.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2026