GUJRAT: The University of Gujrat has banned the entry of at least 18 students on its campuses in the light of recommendations made by the varsity’s disciplinary committee for leading protest demonstrations on the Hafiz Hayat campus around a week ago, pasting pictures of 12 of them on the varsity gate.

The protesting students had gathered in front of the Vice Chancellor Secretariat and some of them turned violent. During the protest the Vice-chancellor, Dr Ziaul Qayyum, was allegedly roughed up and his personal staff was also subjected to physical torture. The protesters had also smashed the window panes and damaged the varsity’s vehicles.

UoG Registrar Dr Tahir Aqeel in a notification issued on February 9, 2017, said that upon recommendations of the on going proceedings of disciplinary committee with respect to discipline breach case number 101 “the UoG VC is pleased to issue directions that the entry of 18 students has been banned with immediate effect.”

Pics of 12 pasted on varsity gate

The pictures of 12 of the students -- Saddam Hussain (BS History), Muhammad Munaf (Environment science), Abdul Basit (Mass Com), Asfand Yar (BS Software), Waqar Ali (BS IT), Zahid Sarfraz Saroya ( BS IT), Junaid Arif (IT), Qasim Hussain Pagganwal (Architecture Department), Nabeel Javed (Math), Asad Ali ( BBA), Syed Mesam Ali ( BBA) and Jamshaid Tabassum (Commerce) have been pasted on the varsity gate. These students have been allowed to appear in the end-term examination of semester fall 2016 under security “if otherwise found eligible.”

The other six students whose entry has also been banned are Syed Murtaza (Histroy), Hamza Pervaiz (LLB), Syed Ali Rehan (Mass com), Syed Gohar Abbas (Sociology), Syed Irtaza Muzaffar (Computer Sciences) and Yousaf Razzaq (Commerce).

A heavy contingent of police was deployed on Hafiz Hayat campus on Thursday and Friday to check any violent protest by the students against the entry ban.

According to varsity sources, the students have planned to lodge a protest against the ban in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in the next couple of days.

Hundreds of the UoG students had lodged a strong protest against the university administration around a week ago for two consecutive days. They protested the varsity’s policy of not promoting those scoring less than 1.5 cumulative grade point average (CGPA).

The architecture department students also joined the protest against the varsity’s failure in securing accreditation from the Pakistan Council of Architecture and Town Planning (PCATP) for the last six years that rendered their degrees useless in the job market.

Some students from Balochistan participated in the protest against the notices issued to them to pay hostel dues. They said earlier no such dues were charged from them.

The protesters had also complained about shortage of buses in the varsity’s transport fleet. Despite paying the transport charges, the students were compelled to wait for hours for buses, they complained.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2017