LARKANA: A large number of Chandka Medical College (CMC) students on Thursday evening and Friday took to the streets, blocked the entrance and road leading to the institution and paralysed the administration. Police had to be called in on Friday to get the gate reopened and the road cleared for free movement of faculty, officers and other employees.

The students were protesting against issuance of notices to many students and an FIR lodged by the college administration at the Rehmatpur police station against 13 agitating students for allegedly disturbing academic atmosphere on the campus and crippling the administration.

The student unrest at the college started brewing on Tuesday (Aug 13) when a female hosteller complained of trespassing, saying that she had seen a boy moving around in the corridor of the college’s girls’ hostel “at around 3:30am” on Tuesday. Her complaint provoked many students who assembled outside the facility and started raising slogans to demand action against security officer Sultan Bhutto, Hostel Provost Dr Raja Rakhair, Deputy Provost Rehman Bhutto and Warden Alizah Fatima for the security breach.

According to the college administration, the principal, vice principal and registrar rushed to the hostel but the mob of agitating students did not let them enter the building. “They hurled abuses at senior teachers and administration,” said a spokesman for the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU), the parent institution of the CMC, in a press statement.

FIR lodged against 13 protesting students for blocking main gate and road, disrupting academic activities

Eventually, show-cause notices were issued to 13 students, it added.

The agitation was organised by a group of students calling itself the ‘Students Action Committee’.

The committee leaders who were issued notices included Samad Jafferi, Aamir Khan and Azad Siyal. They led the processions taken out from the college. The participants carrying placards marched through various roads in the city before converging on the local press club. They also held demonstrations outside the main gates of the CMC and Begum Nusrat Bhutto Library at Jinnah Bagh.

Speaking to them, the leaders condemned the trespass in girls’ hostel. They demanded a transparent inquiry into the incident. The university administration, however, ignored the incident calling it ‘just hallucination’, they deplored.

The show-cause notices issued by the SMBBMU registrar accused the students of having violated the institution’s disciplinary rules by taking out processions, misbehaving with teachers, raising slogans against the administration, blocking main road leading to the institution and creating nuisance.

The issuance of notices fueled the unrest as the students intensified their campaign. They not only staged more demonstrations, but also closed the main entrance to the college to press their demand for action against the officers.

Sources privy to the matter said that SMBBMU Vice Chancellor Dr Syed Nusrat Shah plainly refused to accept their demand.

The situation aggravated when the university’s registrar Dr Safdar Shaikh wrote a letter to the SSP concerned for the registration of an FIR against 13 students of the Chandka Medical College and Bibi Aseefa Dental College. He named the students as Tabriz Ali Marhato, Sajjad Panhwar, Amir Ali Chandio, Yakoob Banglani, Abdul Nabi Sohu, Saeed Lanjar, Masroor Tunio, Faheem Raza Kaheri, Waqar Jessar, Jibran Zia, Naseebullah Bijarani, Irfan Khoso and Mohammed Rashid Mirbahar.

Subsequently, the FIR (No. 89/2024) was registered on the complaint of security officer Sultan Ahmed Bhutto at the Rehmatpur police station.

The sources said that the agitating students had offered resistance when police forced them to clear the road and disperse from the college gate on Thursday evening. The gate was eventually opened amidst rainfall.

On Friday again, the students took out a rally and held a demonstration outside the local press club demanding withdrawal of the FIR and notices, and also acceptance of their demand.

It was learnt on good authority that representatives of the protesters were called to an emergency meeting of the Academic Council on Thursday for an end to the campaign but the move proved to be fruitless.

Meanwhile, the SMBBMU registrar has constituted an inquiry committee regarding the hostel incident. Prof Dr Riaz Ahmed Shaikh is the committee’s chairman whereas the other members are Prof Dr Imdad Ansari (controller of examinations, SMBBMU), Dr Fozia Shaikh (CMC Vice Principal as convener), Dr Mohammed Pariyal Shahani (director students’ affairs of SMBBU) and Ms Farida Badar (lecturer, Benazir College of Nursing).

The press statement issued by the SMBBMU spokesman said that a lot of “negative propaganda and media trial of university administration” was going on in relation to the incident reported at the girls’ hostel. It claimed that the district police were called out immediately and the SSP Larkana and lady DSP Larkana not only visited the girls’ hostels, but also constituted a high-level committee, recorded statements of students, and watched the CCTV footages to ascertain facts. However, it added, no such evidence was found.

It pointed out that the girls’ hostels of the university were fully secure with only a single entry gate. There are 17 CCTV cameras in the vicinity and high walls with barbed wires all around the enclave. Regarding failure of talks between the two sides, the statement claimed that agitators’ leaders made unjustified demands and refused to clear the entrance gate. Consequently, it was decided to seek help of the district police and take disciplinary action against the protesting students in accordance with the SMBBMU prospectus, the statement said.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2024