islamabad - The effort of reopening of Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) went in vain, when the students refused to call off their strike till the issuing of a notification by Higher Education Commission (HEC), official said on Monday.
The students protesting since the last two weeks, allowed the administration to open the administration and academic block, but locked it again after failure of negotiations with Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed.
Chairman HEC along with Dean, Dr. Sayed Waqar Ali Shah tried to convince the students to call off their strike.
Despite verbal agreement of all demands, the students asked the Chairman HEC for a written guarantee. On failure to provide that, the students resumed the protest.
“The talks were held in a positive environment and the stake holders hoped for a fruitful outcome, but the students’ demand of written guarantee failed the process,” official said.
Talking to The Nation, Chairman Pashtoon Student Council Jahanzeb Khan, said that syndicate meeting will be held on Friday.
He said that chairman HEC assured students to raise their demands at syndicate meeting. He said that chairman HEC also announced to allocate Rs50million to meet the university students’ needs.
“However, no immediate notification was issued so the strike continued,” he said.
Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed informed The Nation that “we almost reached agreement, but the efforts failed”.
He said that students of constituting committees were told in the syndicate to address their issues and show flexibility on demands to end the crises. He said HEC announced allocation of funds for the justified demands of students and to initiate work on priority basis.
He said the fee issue could not be addressed fully because students were told that the university has no other source of earning.
Dr. Sayed Waqar Shah, told The Nation that students opened the departments in morning but locked them again after failure of negotiations.
He said that administration is not willing to solve the issue by force and holding negotiations to convince the students.
He also said that the list of newly admitted students was uploaded to the website on time.
