Ashrafuddin Pirzada
LANDIKOTAL: Students of the Government Postgraduate College Landikotal staged a protest demonstration outside the college gate on Thursday to record their protest against the proposed affiliation of their college with Fata University.
The protesters, who chanted slogans, held banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the affiliation of the Government postgraduate college with Fata University.
The students blocked the Pak-Afghan highway at Landikotal bypass road, causing traffic jams where hundreds of loaded and empty trucks were stranded on the road.
Meanwhile, police officers negotiated with the protesters and reopened the road after several hours.
Daud Shinwari, President of the Landikotal postgraduate college students union, along with vice president Muhammad Asif Ryan, General Secretary Qasim, former President Ubaid Khan and others, spoke on the occasion that they strongly oppose the proposed affiliation of their college with Fata University. They argued that the affiliation wastes their valuable time due to the university’s poor administration.
The students emphasized that while there are 40 universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata University ranks 38th, whereas Peshawar University stands at the top. They demanded the restoration of their college’s affiliation with Peshawar University.
They said the college’s departments of Zoology and Urdu were still affiliated with Peshawar University, making the new arrangement illogical and inconvenient.
The students revealed that they had repeatedly raised the issue with Provincial Education Minister Meena Khan, Minister Adnan Qadri, and other relevant authorities but the problem remained unresolved.
“We are students and our primary responsibility is to focus on studies, not protests. Unfortunately, circumstances have forced us to take this step,” said one of the protestors.
The students called upon local political leaders, municipal representatives, tribal elders and journalists to join their sit-in to support their longstanding demand.
They threatened to continue their sit-in and protest at the college gate until all their demands were met.
