Bloodied but unbowed: SBK University opens after 25 days

Students demand a transparent inquiry into the June 15 suicide hit.

QUETTA: Sardar Bahadur Khan Women (SBK) University was reopened for normal academic activities on Wednesday after it was closed 25 days ago following a traumatic tragedy.

The SBK University was closed after a deadly suicide attack on June 15, which left at least 14 students dead and many others injured.

Even though academic activities resumed, the students seemed quite enraged and mentally traumatized as they staged a protest inside the premises of the university to express their outrage.



The angry students chanted slogans against the former Vice Chancellor (VC) Sultana Baloch and the university administration. The students were holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans calling for justice and condemning the attack on innocent students.

They demanded a transparent inquiry into the incident and also against the university administration.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Bhaktawar Shafqat, a commerce student in her fourth semester said that they still remained all torn up and agitated as they lost over 14 students in the suicide hit. “I was close to the blast side. I saw everything with my eyes and I can’t fail to remember the incident,” she said. She, however, added that the students would foil any bid to close the university.

While talking to the media, the current VC of SBK University Rukhsana Jabeen said that the police, Frontier Corps (FC) and Balochistan Constabulary are providing security to the university now, adding that the ID cards of students are being checked before they are allowed into the campus.

She added that in every bus, the police constables will be providing security to the students. The female police would also be deployed at the campus for security.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2013.