Scholarships for ex-Fata students demanded

LAHORE: MNA Mohsin Darwar while addressing a press conference here on Saturday demanded the government ensure scholarships to the students of ex-Federally Administrated Area (Fata) in the universities of Punjab.

At the Lahore Press Club, Mohsin Darwar, who was flanked by Pashtun Council chairman Ijaz Khan, Muzamil Khan and Abdullah Nangyal, added that as the Fata was being merged with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa it was recommended to continue different quotas of ex-Fata including provision of educational facilities in Punjab until the area did not stand on its feet to compete with rest of the country.

Mohsin was visiting the provincial metropolis to express solidarity with the students of ex-Fata who had holding a sit-in outside the Governor House for the last five days. The students had been protesting against the Vice Chancellor of Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB) for not implementing a quota announced by the Punjab government for the students of ex-Fata.

The MNA alleged that IUB VC was violating the orders of the government and was not giving admission to the ex-FATA students.

Ijaz Khan said that the students were holding sit-ins and protests from last month earlier in Bahawalpur and now in Lahore outside the Governor House and no one from the government and opposition members approached them to solve their problem. He said they did not have internet facilities in Fata and they could not continue their online classes and they should be allowed to live in the hostels of the university so that they could use the internet and attend online classes.