Osh-returned students refused by medical colleges

Kyrgyz riots victims in a fix over admissions
Karachi, June 23: Many students who escaped the bloodshed in violence-stricken Kyrgyzstan due to the timely intervention by the government of Pakistan are still uncertain about their future, as the medical colleges they approached have refused to give them admissions in the absence of written instructions from the ministry of health.

"We cannot go back to Osh since most parts of the city and the Osh State University has been vandalised," said one of the six students while addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday.

Obaid Ansari, a fifth-year student, said the hostels where they stayed were also set on fire due to which vital documents belonging to the students got destroyed. Since most of the students were about to complete their courses, leaving the university like that had made them and their parents ponder over their future, he said.

He said around 400 girl and boy students were stranded in Osh because of the ethnic riots that broke out in Kyrgyzstan, and had to face a difficult situation. "One of their fellow students, engineer Ali, even lost his life which saddened all of us," he said.

However, he added, timely intervention by the government of Pakistan made the students fly out of Kyrgyzstan, for which they were grateful to the media and the government of Pakistan.

Mr Ansari said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had promised the students who had returned from Kyrgyzstan that they would be given admission to educational institutions here. However, when some of them contacted a few medical colleges they argued that until the health ministry or the government issued them a written instruction they couldn't allow the students to pursue their studies at these institutions.

In response to a query, another student lamented that the prime minister had directed the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to accommodate the Kyrgyzstan-returned boys and girls, but the HEC hadn't yet complied with that.

He suggested that a campus of a certain Pakistani institution could be used for Osh University's Pakistani students by signing a contract with Osh University and the Kyrgyzstan healthy ministry so that they could finish their courses in time and obtain the relevant degrees.

Replying to another question, Obaid Ansari said the students were paying Rs200,000 as their annual tuition fee in Osh. He said he and his fellow medical students were in touch with the rest of their community in different parts of Pakistan.

He told journalists that a couple of political figures (Farooq Sattar and Khalid Mahmood Soomro, for instance) had also contacted the students, giving them assurances of their admission to local institutions.

The six medical students who met the press were: Obaid Ansari and Zubair Ahmed, both in their fifth year and hailing from Jacobabad, sixth-year students Sajid Ali and Naveed Ahmed and fourth-year students Junaid Mirza and Fida Husain, all the four from Khairpur.

Post your comments

Osh-returned students seek govt help
Toba tek singh: The students who have returned from strife-torn Osh (Kyrgyzstan) have demanded that the government help them get admission to local educational institutions.

The students -- Tahir Munir, Muhammad Azam, Zaigham Gilani, Muneeb Shaukat, Junaid Shaukat, Mustafa Raza, Ali Raza, Abdul Basit, Umar Rafiq, Fatima Arshad, Iqra Javed and Anmol Sidra – told reporters at Gojra that it's a question of their career and the government's support could help them complete education without loss of time.

They said almost all institutions (where they had been studying) were torched by rioters and there was no chance of their early return. Dawn

Post your comments

Digital lab to be inaugurated at KU library
Karachi: Dr Mehmood Hussain Library at University of Karachi (KU) has expanded its facilities for researchers as it will soon inaugurate the latest digital lab on June 28. It is pertinent to mention that the said project was approved and funded by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). The new digital library comprises of 100 computers which will be accessible for all the students from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. Almost 280 network points are installed in all sections of the library building to assure continuous internet service.

Post your comments

Notices issued to VC NED University, DSP
Karachi: A bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Vice-Chancellor, NED Engineering University, Abdul Kalam, and DSP Gulshan-e-Iqbal, to cause production of Maira Nayyer, a lecturer of the university, before the court on June 9.

The orders were issued on a habeas corpus petition filed by the mother of Maira, Fatima Zia Shahab. She has alleged in the petition that her daughter was being kept in illegal confinement by the respondents since May 11.

The petition came up before the bench comprising Justice Sabeehuddin Ahmed and Justice Wahid Bux Brohi. It was submitted by her counsel, Amir Hani Muslim, that in January, Maira Nayyer was appointed lecturer in Computer Department for a period of six months where she was entrusted with a research project by the head of department. During this period Sajid Muhammad, a final year student of the department, started sending her e-mail messages at her home. Since Maira's father is out of country, she, on the direction of her mother, resigned from the job without completing the project.

It was further submitted that the VC did not accept her resignation and the registrar of the university got published a notice in the newspapers that she must join the job to complete the project or else her name would be put on the ECL. A message was also delivered at her residence that the VC wanted to see her.

On May 11 she went to the university where she was told by the VC that if she left the project incomplete action would be taken against her. That day she was not allowed to leave the university and was housed in the girls' hostel. The news

Post your comments