Former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) students at the Islamic University of Bahawalpur have been staging a protest for the past seven days against the university’s recent decision to terminate quotas reserved for them since 2014. The students, who were previously granted reserved seats with scholarships, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the sudden withdrawal of this arrangement.
Despite the onset of the holy month of Ramadan, the students continue their protest, fasting on the streets in front of the university gates. However, there has been no response from the university administration, leaving the students’ demands unaddressed.
The Bahawalpur students’ protest highlights the students’ frustration and disappointment with the administration’s decision, as well as their determination to fight for their rights to education and opportunities for socio-economic advancement.
Of late it has been seen across Pakistan and its illegally occupied territories that students have gone to protest. Mostly, the reason around such protests have been the hike in fees, lack of teaching staff and termination of reserved seats. Clearly, Pakistan is curbing the rights of students to get quality education. People from Pakistan occupied Balochistan, Pakistan occupied Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir and ex-FATA have been affected the most.