While students protest at the Karakoram International University in Pak occupied Gilgit Baltistan, against the indiscriminate fee hike by the administration, the University has turned a blind eye towards their demand. In the latest development, the University Additional Academics Registrar has ordered a temporary closure of the university for an indefinite period on 21st of October. The Additional Academic Registrar also directed to conduct the classes as per preset routine using online mode.
This raises serious questions over the intention of the university administration as it is the university students who are protesting, and it is their obligation to listen and provide solutions to their grievances. Still, there has been no deliberation from the university site. Instead, the administration has closed the university rendering the protesting students in disarray. Evidently, this shows that the administration that is running on the directions of Pakistan is busy licking the boots of the Pakistan Army with no attention towards education and students’ reasonable demands.
Students have been protesting against the lack of facilities and fee hike in the University for more than a year now. The university’s decision of indiscriminate fee hike is hurting more as the region is already grappling with lots of challenges like hike in electricity prices, wheat prices and capturing of crucial parts of land.
Meanwhile, a couple of days ago, the Gilgit Baltistan Students Council students of Quaid-e-Azam University registered their protest in favour of KIU student sit-in. They also extended support to the ongoing protests against the removal of wheat subsidy in the region.
Nevertheless, the commitment of the KIU students remains unwavering as they continue their sit-in demonstration at Nad-e-Ali chowk irrespective of the abrupt closure of the university campus.