UoP students of remote regions feel displaced after campus closure

from The News -PESHAWAR: The students from Kurram Agency, Chitral and Quetta at the University of Peshawar (UoP) have been displaced after the closure of the university due to the violence following the killing of Adnan Abdul Qadir, a student of the NWFP University of Engineering & Technology.

Talking to The News from Shabqadar by phone on Monday, a group of the students from Kurram Agency said they could not go to their homes due to their studies.

They said the students from far-flung areas had no option but to live with their colleagues in various areas after the closure of the university till an indefinite period.

The road to Parachinar in Kurram Agency from Peshawar, which was opened under the security forces escort, has been closed again for all kinds of vehicular traffic after two incidents took place in Thall tehsil of Hangu district, leaving 19 dead and 45 injured.

Kurram Agency’s Nasir Hussain said: “I don’t know when will the university reopen but I can neither stay here nor go home.”

Subhan Turi, a master’s of commerce student, said the university administration had allotted them Allama Iqbal Hostel for their temporary stay where they were forced to sleep on the ground.

Bilal Hussain, a BBA student, said: “It is better to go home instead of living in a place where one cannot concentrate on their studies properly.” He demanded of the government to set a deadline about the reopening of the university.

Regarding the law and order situation and apathy of the government, the students said Naeem and Naseem Khan, both first year students, were kidnapped and killed by unidentified miscreants, but the government had not paid compensation to the bereaved families so far.

Subhan Turi said the students could not go home to Kurram Agency due to exorbitant fare, ie Rs5000, and sometimes Rs15,000 per head via Afghanistan as the road from Peshawar to Parachinar via Hangu and Thall was closed.

Another student, Musarrat Hussain, said: “I have not been home since October 2008 because of the prevailing situation.” He added that he had also lost contact with the family for the last four months due to poor services of the mobile phones’ networks.

About 150 female students among 950 students of Kurram Agency are studying at the University of Peshawar and most of them are facing the same problem. Most of the female students from Parachinar have to stay at private hostels as there was not enough space in the hostels of the university.

The male students complained that the government had been doing injustice to the people of Kurram Agency as the Fata Medical College approved for Parachinar in the Kurram agency had been shifted to Khyber Agency and cadet colleges were being set up in Mohmand and South Waziristan tribal agencies.

They maintained that in the past about 100 to 150 tribal students used to get admission in the University of Peshawar, saying that due to closure of Peshawar-Parachinar road only 20 to 30 students of the area could get access to the facility.

They said educational institutions in Kurram Agency could not conduct their examinations in time owing to the security situation. They said the results came late and the successful students could not get admissions in the colleges and universities of Peshawar.