KARACHI: Nursing students under the banner of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) Karachi Nursing Unit staged a protest outside Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), raising concerns over examination results, the Semester-IV Retake Examination schedule and related fees.
According to IJT, a large number of students from nursing colleges participated in the protest. The organisation alleged that students had earlier attempted to protest over alleged irregularities in examination results but were prevented from doing so by the university administration and were allegedly harassed through police.
The protesting students demanded that their concerns regarding examination results be addressed immediately and that the existing date sheet for the Semester-IV Retake Examination be withdrawn and the examinations postponed.
They also demanded an extension in the deadline for submitting examination fee vouchers and a reduction in the Retake Examination Fee. The students maintained that a fresh examination date should be announced only after completion of the retake-related process.
As the protest continued, it turned into a sit-in, with demonstrators announcing that they would remain there until representatives of the university administration came forward to hold negotiations with them.
Nazim Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba Karachi Syed Muhammad Sameer-ul-Haq also joined the protesting students and addressed the demonstration.
Speaking on the occasion, Sameer-ul-Haq said IJT would continue to raise its voice for the resolution of students’ issues and pursue what he described as their legitimate rights through an organised struggle.
He said the organisation had launched a students’ rights campaign under the title “Resist to Exist” and demanded that the concerns and demands of nursing students be addressed without delay.
Sameer-ul-Haq said IJT would stand with the nursing students until their issues were resolved.
The protesters urged the DUHS administration to initiate immediate negotiations, listen to students’ concerns and take steps to resolve the examination-related issues. IJT also called upon the administration to ensure that students were not deprived of their constitutional and legal right to peaceful protest.
