RAWALPINDI: Angry students of Gordon College Rawalpindi on Wednesday locked the principal in his room for several hours as a sign of protest. They aimed to prevent him from attending the first meeting of the Board of Governors (BoGs) of Punjab educational institutions.
Hundreds of students gathered outside the college building at 8:30 am and locked all the rooms of the college including that of Principal Dr Abdul Qayyum Bhatti.
The students were protesting against a feared increase in fees after the proposed privitisation of Punjab’s educational institutions.
Chanting slogans against Punjab government, the students blocked Liaquat road, causing a traffic jam.
Some of the students claimed they were forced by the teachers to disrupt the BoG meeting, which was scheduled to take place at Gordon College. The teachers have already taken the case of the privitisation of Punjab’s colleges to the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, and could not protest themselves. But President Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association Rawalpindi division Mohammad Ilyas Qureshi denied this allegation.
“The college administration announced a holiday for the students on Wednesday because of the scheduled BoG meeting,” he said. “Some of the students reached the college and saw that teachers weren’t being allowed inside the building. They started to protest and locked the building.”
Talking to The Express Tribune, the principal said he remained locked in the room from 8: 30am to 2:20 pm and could not attend the BoG meeting, which had to be shifted to the Deputy Commissioner’s Office.
“I did not even have drinking water and had to make-do with a small bottle of Abe Zam Zam,” he added. He said the situation was terrifying for him, being locked in a room all alone in the entire building.
“All I could hear were the sounds of breaking glass, pots and doors,” he said.
Bhatti added that the students themselves were docile, and had been instigated by teachers.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed said the meeting was supposed to start early but was delayed because of the situation at Gordon College.
Saeed said, “It was decided in the meeting that the fees would not be increased and the board would not interfere in the terms and conditions of teachers and non-teaching staff in service.”
The BoGs will not dispose of the college buildings that come under it, he maintained. He added that all the board decisions will be presented before LHC Rawalpindi bench.
Saeed further said there was a vested interest of teachers behind the students’ protest.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2011.
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