Quaid-i-Azam Medical College students torture

QAMC students stick to their guns
Bahawalpur, Aug 23: Students of the Quaid-i-Azam Medical College (QAMC) continued their protest for the third consecutive day on Saturday despite agreeing on a reconciliation formula on Friday night.

They demanded resignation of college principal Prof Dr Syed Ijaz Shah and a judicial inquiry into the Friday's police torture.

Some local political figures belonging to the PML-N, after negotiations with QAMC principal and Bahawal Victoria Hospital medical superintendent Dr Altaf Malik, had brokered an agreement between the administration and the protesting students.

It was decided that students would call their protest off while the administration had agreed to get the arrested students released by taking a lenient view in respect of the acceptance of bail applications. And to implement this agreement, some of the students were also freed on Friday night.

But, contrary to expectations, the QAMC campus and the BVH out-patients department (OPD) presented the scenes of Thursday and Friday.

The students took out a protest rally on the college campus and later stormed the OPD. They demanded closing the OPD down and later forced duty doctors to leave the place and join them instead to condemn the police torture on them. They demanded judicial inquiry in to the police torture and resignation of the college principal.

The protesters staged a sit-in in front of the OPD and said that they would continue their protest till their demands were accepted.

Some of the students' representatives said on telephone that they did not breach the agreement as the administration was portraying it.

According to them, the political negotiators were told that they (students) wanted the resignation of the principal. At this, the political negotiators had assured them that their demand would be conveyed to the Punjab chief minister. They reiterated that they would continue their protest till the resignation of the college principal.

They alleged that they were being threatened that if they did not call their protest against principal off, they would not be able to qualify the viva voce of their final examination.

The principal and the MS said that they had been making desperate attempts to contact the political negotiators, who had managed an agreement with the students on Friday, but their cell phones were going off.

According to a report, President Asif Ali Zardari has condemned police torture on QAMC students and called for an action against the responsible officials.

According to a report reaching here, the chief justice of the Lahore High Court has also taken a suo moto notice of the torture incident and summoned the Bahawalpur district police officer on Monday (Aug 23). Dawn

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Doctors condemn torture of female QAMC students
Lahore: The Young Doctors Association (YDA) and Medical Students' Action Committee on Saturday condemned police torture of female students of Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur.

In a joint press conference at the Pakistan Medical Association House, doctors protested against the baton-charging of female doctors by police personnel in front of the OPD of Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur. They demanded suspension of the "incompetent" Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Principal Prof Dr Ijaz Shah and District Police Officer Babar Bakht. Moreover, they demanded registration of an FIR under the Anti-Terrorism Act against the DPO who ordered the policemen to baton-charge female students and doctors.

They said the "brutal" treatment meted out to medical students and future doctors by the Punjab Police "is a matter of great shame for the entire nation".

The doctors also decried the government's "indifference" to the issue despite media reports for the last three days. They said the Punjab government did not bother taking any action in the matter and did not intervene to ban the entry of police officials to a medical institution. They urged the CM to take notice of the incident and "immediately" suspend the principal, DPO and DSP involved in torturing female doctors. Daily times

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AIOU allocates Rs 16m to help flood-affected students
Islamabad: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has announced financial support of Rs 16 million to its flood affected students, enabling them to meet their academic requirements.

"Besides, AIOU will provide books to enrolled students, who have lost their belongings in the worst-ever natural disaster," said Vice Chancellor of the University Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi.

Announcing special concession in the fees for flood-hit students, the VC said AIOU was taking all possible steps to help mitigating sufferings of the student community.

"We are a responsible academic entity and will ensure low cost, well supported education to the deserving students in flood-hit regions," he added.

He called upon the students and staff to actively participate in rescue operations. "Our 36 campuses in four provinces will extend their all possible assistance to the affected students," he said. The affected students can contact their regional offices to avail the concession to continue their study in next semester. app

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Sacked BISE PRO still in office
Lahore: Employees of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore alleged that sacked Public Relations Officer (PRO) Qaiser Virk was still present in his office and interfering in official matters. Qaiser was fired for his alleged mismanagement of the annual prize distribution ceremony for matriculation high-achievers last week. BISE employees demanded that the government ask BISE Chairman Akram Kashmir why Qaiser was still present in his office and demanded that the government appoint a regular PRO who met the requirements of the post and was qualified.

The chairman of BISE said that Qaiser was not dysfunctional and denied that he was active in BISE.

A number of BISE officials alleged that the sacked PRO was still present in his office and was interfering in official matters. According to the employees, Qaiser had allegedly been involved in corruption in the recent matriculation examinations and had reportedly appointed fake supervisors at examination centers.

An official said that the PRO was not qualified for the post, as he was a graduate of psychology and had been appointed to the post in the tenure of Ch Pervaiz Elahi. Daily times

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GCU sets up teachers training fund
Lahore: The Endowment Fund Trust of the Government College University, Lahore, has set up a Teachers Training Fund with the Rs2 million seed money.Trust president Iqbal Z. Ahmed donated the seed money at a ceremony arranged on Saturday night during which a sum of Rs7 million was also raised for deserving students who cannot afford their academic expenses.

Oklahoma former governor David Walters also donated Rs1.3 million for initiating scholarships for deserving students at the ceremony presided over by GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Aftab. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan was the chief guest.

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif, Justice Saqib Nisar, Gymkhana Club chairman Mian Misbaur Rehman, PTCL senior vice-president Naveed Saeed, Asher Nazir, Altaf Khan and Mian Anwar were among the noted Old Ravians who sent donations for deserving students at the GCU fundraiser.

Prof Aftab said that around 2,100 Ravians applied for the financial aid every year and due to limited financial resources it became difficult for the university to accommodate all of them.

The Endowment Fund Trust was established to bridge the gap and last year scholarships worth Rs11 million were given to deserving students.

The recent increase in staff salaries have put an additional burden of Rs62 million on the university budget. However, the university is trying to generate money from other resources instead of passing the burden on students.

Iqbal Z. Ahmed said that trust also planning to hold fundraisers in Karachi, the UAE and the UK. He announced initiating a lifetime golden scholarship with a donation of Rs1 million from Zohra and Iqabl Z Ahmed Foundation. The scholarship would be given to a student on merit every year.

Atizaz Ahsan said that secular lessons had always been the key element of education at the Government College. He said that GC teachers had always encouraged questioning, difference of opinion and argument, besides teaching tolerance to students; tolerance towards the beliefs, faith, race, religion and ideas of other people.

Endowment Trust secretary Khalid Manzoor Butt said that the trust wanted to donate a part of donations to flood victims but rules and regulations did not permit it. The university would launch a separate campaign to collect funds for flood victims.

Aitzaz Ahsan announced a donation of Rs0.1 million for the proposed campaign for flood victims.

Later, Prof Aftab, Atizaz Ahsan and Iqbal Z. Ahmed distributed shields among donors of the GCU endowment fund. Dawn

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