Students rally for varsity in Chitral
CHITRAL, June 20: The All Chitral Students Federation held a protest against the KP government at Ataliq Chowk, DC Office Road, on Thursday.
The strike was marked by the participation of a huge number of female students, mostly of SBBU Chitral Campus, the first ever of its nature in Chitral. Cheering students vociferously rejected KP government’s current budget, whereby the students’ long standing demand of allocating fund for SBB University Chitral Campus’s property had been neglected.
“There are as many as forty degree colleges in Chitral affiliated with Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Sheringal still the university’s Chitral Campus is housed in a congested rented building and badly lacks the basic facilities like: library, laboratories, hostel facility, transportation and internet facility. This is nothing but a shameful failure of our political representatives to get Chitral’s right”, they said. Student leaders of PPP, ISF and IJT also participated in the strike. They unanimously asked the PTI government whether it was ‘justice’ to establish four universities in a place (Dir Upper and Lower) where there are hardly a few degree colleges and not a single university in Chitral which boasts of as many as forty degree level colleges, more than seventy inter level colleges with a whopping number of students. “Shame, shame, shame” echoed the crowd.
The crowd was told that Ms Fauzia, PTI MPA on reserved seat for females, had time and again told the students that a fund Rs.500 million had been allocated for the purchase of property for SBB University’s Chitral Campus. “It proved to be a shameful lie. Now that the budget is out, there clearly is no allocation of such fund for the campus”, said the student speakers.
Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, former MNA Chitral, addressed the crowd and blatantly criticized the so-called ‘justice’ and ‘change’ claims of the PTI government. “Is this ‘change’ to deny a people their right to education? Is this ‘insaf’ to establish two more universities in Dir where there are hardly a few degree level colleges and neglect Chitral where there are more than eighty colleges? If this is ‘insaf’, we are rejecting it.” He strongly demanded announcement of an independent university for Chitral before the budget gets passed by the KP assembly. “Our MPAs have badly failed us today. The evidence of their failure is that our daughters are on the streets today voicing their grievances and demanding their rights. Our MPAs should fight and get an independent university for Chitral included in the current budget. If they are not able to do it they should resign for the good of Chitral.”
The student speakers said, “This is not a strike or a sit-in, this is the start of a movement. We will keep on protesting till an independent university is established in Chitral.” A resolution was also passed on the conclusion of the strike demanding the following: 1. Keeping the higher education rate of Chitral in view an independent university should be established this year. Announcement of this effect should be made during the budget debate. 2. An independent Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education should be established in Chitral. 3.
An emergency fund for Chitral should be allocated to redress the wrong the PTI government has done to the people of Chitral by completely ignoring the district in the current budget.]]>