ICU students launch protest too against fee hike

PESHAWAR: Taking cue from University of Peshawar fraternity, the students of the Islamia College University on Thursday launched a protest drive for having own issues resolved.
Talking to The News on Thursday, the protesters’ leaders, including Pakhtun Students Federation president Nauman Sher, general secretary Hazrat Bilal and others said students had requested the administration to stop the 10 percent annual increase for five years.
They said the university was charging Rs 2,500 for repeat paper, Rs6,000 for makeup paper, Rs500 for DMC and Rs2,200 degree fee which was an unjust amount.
The protesting students demanded restoration of installment system for fee depositing at the university and provision of transport for the students.
“A newly established Abdul Wali Khan University has own transport facility, but the students of over a century-old institution are deprived of the facility,” Nauman Sher said.
The protesting students demanded parity in the admission at the intermediate level, saying 150 students were admitted on open merit while 250 were granted admission on self-finance basis.
They were demanding construction of hostel for postgraduate students and a third party audit of the mega projects completed at the campus.
The protesters’ leaders alleged that the administration had closed the university entrances on the pretext of threat alert to discourage students from attending the university and participating in their protest.
However, Public Relations Officer of the university, Omar Ali, said that the protesting students had damaged a gate near Dhobi Ghaat. “We cannot stop any student from attending classes, but we will not allow outsiders to disrupt educational activities at the Islamia College University,” he maintained.
He said the security staff at the gate check the students ID cards and allow those with proper uniform.
“No one who meets the requirements has been barred from entering the

university,” he added.
Pointing to the protesters demand, he said fee plays a vital role for operations of educational institutions, adding that ICU could not lower fees.
Meanwhile, the Muttahida Talba Mahaz continued the protest on the 12th day at the University of Peshawar. One of the protesting leaders, Abid Yousafzai, told The News that the protest would end after the syndicate decides the fee issue.
He said that even Advisor to Chief Minister, Mushtaq Ghani, just gave them verbal assurances and did not take any practical step for addressing the issues, which he said were genuine.