Entertainment starved: Students protest Gomal University’s ban on programmes

32 demonstrators arrested, students boycott BA, BSc exams.

DI KHAN:

In a tit-for-tat approach, students of Gomal University protested on Wednesday against the ban on student programmes by disrupting a teachers’ event. Demonstrators chanted slogans and attempted to enter the main hall of Dr Abdul Qadir Auditorium, where Gomal  University Academic Staff Association (GUASA) was holding its oath-taking ceremony. 

“There is discrimination. Students are not allowed to hold social and cultural activities on campus. So if we cannot host such events then teachers should not be allowed to either,” said Sherullah Wazir, a Pukhtoon Students Federation (PkSF) leader.

Gomal University police tried to control the situation but were pelted with stones by students. Officials then resorted to aerial firing and baton charge, leading to the arrests of 32 students.

The protest continued for around three hours in the vicinity of said auditorium. Later, disgruntled students said they will boycott their BA, BSc exams which are due to start on May 24.

The university then issued a notice announcing the exams would be delayed till June 2, 2014, citing the precarious security situation in Tank and adjacent areas as an excuse.

Owing to police security, GUASA finally held its oath-taking ceremony later in the day. However, protesting students were not silenced and paraded around campus chanting slogans.

This is not the first time students have expressed their frustration with the varsity and its decisions to ban student programmes.

In April 2012, a concert organised by PkSF was disrupted by the police for violating the administration’s ban on musical events.

“Access to entertainment is our fundamental right,” Wazir told The Express Tribune.

At that time, students spoke up against this restriction and said it was especially unfair to students from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), for whom campus activities were the only form of entertainment.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2014.