UET refuses to vacate Kala Shah Kaku campus for Afghan nationals

LAHORE: Government College University (GCU) and University of Health Sciences (UHS) have handed over hostels of their respective campuses in Kala Shah Kaku (KSK) in Sheikhupura to the district government to provide transit stay to Afghan nationals and foreigners being evacuated from Afghanistan.

On the other hand, the University of Engineering & Technology (UET) has been resisting the move on the ground that unlike GCU and UHS, the UET KSK campus was fully functional with dozens of boarding students and teaching and non-teaching staff staying at the campus.

Sources said Sheikhupura district administration had approached the administration of these universities on Thursday night informing them telephonically that their hostels were required to provide stay to Afghan nationals and foreigners being evacuated from Afghanistan. They added on Friday morning contingents of police reached the campuses in Kala Shah Kaku to get vacate the same but the UET administration resisted.

Talking to The News, some UET officials said there were over 2,000 students enrolled at its KSK campus while over 500 of these were boarding students including foreigners staying at the hostel. They added that there were also 300 employees including teaching and non-teaching staff and most of them were staying at the campus.

The UET officials further said, some employees of the district administration allegedly harassed the students on Friday when the administration resisted. They added the UET administration had also informed Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab and Chancellor Office about possible reaction by the UET students in case the hostels were vacated. They further said that students would face academic loss in case the hostels were vacated. The UET KSK campus could not be vacated till the filing of this report.