HYDERABAD, Feb 2: The Balochistan Students Action Committee, Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam, has demanded setting up of an agriculture university in Balochistan.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Saturday, leaders of the action committee, Babu Nabi Bukhsh and others, warned if an announcement to establish the university was not made in a month, 400 agriculturists, doctors and engineers of the SAU, belonging to Balochistan, would observe hunger strike unto death outside the parliament house in Islamabad.

They said there were three agriculture universities in Punjab and two each in the NWFP and Sindh but no agriculture university was established in Balochistan.

They said the majority of Balochistan students could not afford to go to the universities in other provinces.

The students said the certified seeds, provided by other provinces, were not compatible with environmental conditions of Balochistan and local crops, due to the absence of research and agricultural technology, were exposed to insects.

They criticized Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali for announcing an agricultural research centre in Nasirabad district would be upgraded to an agriculture college, saying he should have announced the establishment of a university.

About information technology education, they said out of 26 districts in Balochistan, IT education was being imparted in Quetta only, and demanded the facility should be extended to every district of the province.

They also demanded intermediate colleges should be established in every district of Balochistan, postgraduate classes should be introduced at its degree colleges, quota of Balochistan should be restored in professional institutions of other provinces, the Bolan Medical College should be upgraded to a medical university and free education should be provided to students up to matriculation.