Up in arms: Academic activities at NTU marred by students’ protest

Hundreds protest against expulsion of 12 students.

FAISALABAD:

Academic activities at the National Textile University (NTU) remained suspended for the third consecutive day on Tuesday as varsity students continued demonstrating against the expulsion of 12 students.

Hundreds of students staged a sit-in outside the office of the vice-chancellor and came together at the Faisalabad-Sheikhupura Road separately to demonstrate against the decision. Altaf Hussain, one of the protesters, said the varsity administration had “illegally” expelled Muhammad Tauqeer Butt, Ali Kurshid, Muhammad Tauseef, Muhammad Lucman, Muhammad Nauman, Sameer Ali, Shehryar, Shazil Saleem, Salman Ali, Muhammad Saad, Usman Ayub and Aftab Orakzai. He said the administration had asked all men students to vacate university accommodation late on February 26 after a date sheet had been issued. Hussain said some students hailing from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan and Sindh had requested the administration to grant them permission to stay in university accommodation for a few more days as they were not in a position to make alternative arrangements due to impending examinations. He said the administration had initially acceded to their request. Hussain said the police had later forced them out of their premises at the behest of the administration.



He said some students had staged a demonstration against the police action on the campus. Hussain said the administration had expelled 12 students following the protest and banned them from appearing in examinations.

Ghufran Ali, another protester, said the administration had not allowed final year students to participate in COVITEX 2015 - an annual international conference on value addition and innovation in textiles. He said the administration had forced the varsity’s employees to attend the proceedings to make up for the students’ absence. Ali said some students had been expelled without any explanation after they staged a demonstration against this. “Rector Malik Mumtaz used to actively organise protests against the then rector when he was a hostel warden in 2007. Now, he is against affording students any rights,” he said.

The demonstrators held placards inscribed with slogans against the administration. They demanded the immediate transfer of Rector Mumtaz, the restoration of expelled students and permission to stay in university accommodation till the end of the examinations.

Registrar Rana Muhammad Ashfaq Khan told The Express Tribune that the students had been expelled due to security concerns. He said they had fomented unrest on the campus by hosting “outsiders.” Khan said some of the students had regularly failed to show up for classes. He said under the rules there was no way they could be permitted to sit for examinations. Khan said others had failed to clear outstanding dues. He said they had also created a law and order situation after they had been ordered to deposit the arrears.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2015.