LAHORE, May 26: A large number of students of now closed Al-Huda Medical College staged on Thursday a demonstration against its ‘abrupt closure’. Accompanied by their parents, the students, 246 in number, told a news conference after the demonstration that the college management had robbed them of their finances and future. “They have shut down the college without any notice and slipped away after fleecing hundreds of students in the name of offering medical education,” they added.

The college, a private institution, has been in operation for the last several years but without being recognized and affiliated. Students and Parents Committee chairman Babu Munir Chaudhry said the management charged heavy fees ranging between Rs300,000 and Rs400,000 per year and never allowed any student to qualify even its ‘internal’ second professional examination to ensure that they stayed away from clinical work.

Mr Chaudhry said the management had closed the institution on April 21. When police and students opened the offices, they found all expensive equipment, documents and other items missing. Whatever available was taken into custody.

He said the committee had lodged an FIR against officials, including Asif Bukhari, Malik Maqsood Ahmad Razi, Yasir Bukhari, principal Najma, accountant Rab Nawaz and administration incharge Salim Qureshi. Liaquatabad police, he said, was yet to arrest the accused.

The parents admitted that it was their fault that they did not check the legal status of the college before admission. “It was over simplicity that we got allured by college management tall claims with regard to the quality medical education,” Mr Chaudhry said.

Committee representatives Shehnaz Khan, Khalid Butt and others said they were attracted towards the college following its ‘appealing’ advertisements. They said the management kept assuring them that it was in the process of getting registration from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and affiliation with the University of Health Sciences.

They urged the Punjab chief minister to order police to arrest the accused. They demanded that the government should allow interested NGOs and investors to take over and run the college.