JHANG, March 28: Condition of at least two girls became serious on Tuesday because of their prolonged hunger strike which they had started to protest over the police action against the demonstrating students of local girls’ degree college. Reports said the two students, Rabia Afzal of third year and Humaira of first year, had to be shifted to the emergency ward of the DHQ hospital for treatment in a serious condition.

Meanwhile, the officials of education department and district government ultimately succeeded in persuading the agitating boarders to call off their hunger strike, assuring them that their ‘genuine’ demands would be met within 10 days.

A lecturer, giving details of the incident, told Dawn on condition of anonymity that on Monday when a police contingent led by city DSP Mumtaz Awan arrived at the college’s main gate, the protesting students locked the gate from inside. Upon this, she said, the policemen tried to enter the college by scaling the boundary wall, but soon after the gate was opened on the orders of the principal.

She said that after entering the campus, the police party rushed to the BA examination centre where some boarders were taking examination. The police also harassed the examiners, she said.

REACTION: Political and religious leaders, NGOs’ representatives, human rights activists and parents of the students, besides the people from all walks of life, condemned Monday’s police action against girl students in the strongest terms.

MMA’s district president Bahadur Khan Jhaggar termed the police action an unprecedented act of highhandedness and demanded stern action against the officers responsible for the act.