CHITRAL, April 4: A medical student from Garum Chashma valley is wandering from pillar to post to resume his medical studies disrupted due to financial crunch.
Telling his tale of woes to this correspondent here on Tuesday, the former third-year student of Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, Sardar Ayub said he had to discontinue his studies in the college due to financial constraints two years back when he was undergoing preparation for examination.
“My father is a farmer and was not in a position to pay the hefty amount of Rs35,000 to the college as my annual expenses including hostel rent,” he said and added that the incident led to his depressive disorder and he was confined in his room.
When his mental and physical health deteriorated, he was taken to the Aga Khan Hospital Karachi for treatment and his health was restored after treatment there, he recalled. ”When my father somehow arranged some money for resumption of my studies after a gap of two years, the college administration refused to re-admit me asking for producing a decree from the high court for my reinstatement,” he said.
“My new ordeal started when the lawyers demanded 75,000 for pleading my case in the high court which I even cannot think of affording,” the dejected student said, adding that all his hopes had again dashed to the ground. “If paid the sum to the lawyer, then I will have nothing left to pay to the college and resume my studies and become a doctor which his most cherished goal in life,” he said.
Mr. Ayub has pinned hopes on the chief justice of Peshawar High Court to take cognizance of his plight saying that if he has taken suo motu notice of illegal killing of a markhor in Chitral, then he will not take up his case on compassionate ground.
Mr. Ayub had topped the district both in the matriculation and intermediate examinations and had qualified for admission to the medical college in competition while in the first examination in the medical college. He was among the top ten position holders.–Zahiruddin