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SSC exams | Karachi University protest against thrashing professor
SSC exams start from 15th
Karachi, April 9, 2008: The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) annual
examination 2008 of Science and General (regular and private) groups will
commence on April 15.
A record number of candidates ie around 300,000
have been registered to take the exams this year.
This was stated by the
controller of examinations of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK),
Syed Javed Iftikhar, on Tuesday.
He said that these examinations would be
conducted simultaneously. The papers of class X will be conducted in the morning
session and those of the class IX in the afternoon from 2pm to 5pm.
The
examinations will be held at over 400 centres set up across the city. The
preparations for the conduct of the examinations have almost been
completed.
The BSEK official said that the exam schedule had already been
distributed and the admit cards of the private candidates had already been
dispatched to their respective addresses.
Meanwhile, the BSEK has also
directed the heads of all the affiliated education institutions to send their
representatives with authority letters to collect the admit cards of SSC annual
examinations.
In this regard, a meeting of all the superintendents of the
examination centres is scheduled to be held on April 10 at 11am for girls and at
2pm for boys' centres at the Conference Hall of the board.
Furthermore,
the centre superintendents have been asked to collect the examination material
immediately from the board. APP/PPI
Protest against thrashing of KU professor
Karachi: Over a hundred people attended a sit-in demonstration on
Tuesday at the University of Karachi (KU) Silver Jubilee Gate to protest the
mistreatment of Prof. Riaz Ahmed by the Rangers on March 31.
The protest
was organized by Peoples' Resistance, a coalition of students, teachers,
doctors, journalists, young professionals, human rights organizations and
regular citizens.
They demanded the immediate withdrawal of the false
non-bailable FIR registered against Dr Riaz by the rangers that had confronted
him. They also demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident and the removal
of military personnel from educational institutions in the city.
The
protest was attended by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Pakistan
Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Roots for Equity,
International Socialists, Network for Women's Rights (NWR), Labour Party of
Pakistan (LPP) and the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP) as well as
non-affiliated citizens, students and teachers. Classes at the university will
remain suspended April 9 and 10. ppi
Karachi University to remain closed for two more days
Karachi: The University of Karachi announced on Tuesday that
classes would remain suspended for two more days and said that the rationale
behind the closure decision was that without a law-enforcement agency available
to guard the campus, it would be unwise to put the lives of students at
risk.
The KU Campus Adviser, Dr Khalid Iraqi, said that the
university had received no notification by the Sindh government or the governor
on a decision over the deployment or withdrawal of paramilitary forces in the
university.
"The commandant of the Rangers informed the VC on Saturday
about the Rangers being removed from the campus gates," he said.
Karachi
University has already been closed for two days.
He also said that the
student advisory committee had a meeting on Tuesday with the VC in which they
told him about the emerging situation. According to him, the student advisory
council had been in touch with both student groups that had a clash on Saturday
and was trying to sort things out. "However, keeping in mind the way both
student groups went about showing weapons with no law-enforcement agency around,
it is not appropriate to endanger the lives of so many students in such
circumstances," he said.
Rangers may return
Dr Iraqi also
said the VC had called the chancellor, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, and
asked for the immediate deployment of a law-enforcement agency. However, some
inside sources revealed that a top officer of Rangers had a meeting with the VC
before the withdrawal of the force and informed him about it. The sources also
claimed that the Rangers high-ups had called the university administration and
the VC would have a meeting with the officers in which the whole issue would be
settled.
"Though the Rangers are answerable to the Sindh government and
the governor, who decides about their deployment in educational institutes, here
they just refused to perform their job assigned to them by the government on the
pretext that the teachers demanded that they vacate the university. However, the
issue has been resolved to a great extent and Rangers will resume their security
job at the university on Friday," said the source.
A professor, seeking
anonymity, said: "When we proposed an alternative security plan, we did not mean
it to happen overnight. A teacher would not wish to sit idle at home while the
university remains closed owing to the law and order situation. We called for
some reforms and it was not such a Herculean task as it has been made out to
be."
The Rangers PRO when contacted for a comment said he could not issue
a statement unless he had instructions from his bosses.
Protest
against FIR
"We demand that the FIR registered against Prof Dr Riaz
Ahmed be withdrawn by the Rangers," said an NGO, the People's Resistance, while
staging a sit-in at the Silver Jubilee Gate of the university on
Tuesday.
Scores of protesters, carrying placards and banners, chanted
slogans against Rangers and the VC for not taking any action against it. They
also demanded the Rangers withdraw their FIR.
"We demand the removal of
military personnel from educational institutions as part of a larger
demilitarization process in Pakistani society. Personnel of the Rangers
para-military are force posted at the university, whereas the Dr Riaz incident
adds to their list of things that they shouldn't have done," they said.Citizens,
students, teachers, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Institute
of Labour Education and Research, Roots for Equity, International Socialists,
the Network for Women's Rights, the Labour Party of Pakistan and the Communist
Mazdoor-Kissan Party took part in the protest.
"There was no reason for
the Rangers officers to beat up Dr Riaz Ahmed since the eyewitness that we
talked to revealed that the Silver Jubilee Gate was closed neither for students
nor for teachers," said Abdul Hai, a member of the council formed by the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan to investigate the incident of a teacher being
beaten up by Rangers. The HRCP Fact-Finding Report would be made public on April
12, said Mr Hai. The council comprises Asad Iqbal Butt, Syed Shamsuddin and
Abdul Hai.
According to Mr Hai, the council had talked to Rangers PRO
Capt Fazal, who blamed Dr Ahmed for the incident. Dawn
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