The situation at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) is far from getting normal as the students, citing violation of agreement by university officials, have resumed their strike.
The officials have termed the strike as unjustified as according to them all the demands of students were met. “We had decided to end the strike following an agreement with university officials in which they conceded our demand to suspend the registrar BGSBU Mohammad Rashid Chowdhary,” said a student representative. “But on Monday when we resumed our classes, we were astonished to find Chowdhary in the campus. According to our agreement he had to remain off campus till investigation in scholarship scandal is complete.”
The students alleged that the university has reneged on its promise. “The registrar has not been suspended. He was sitting in his office as usual,” said the student.
As the news of registrar’s presence in the campus spread, the students resumed their strike. “We re-started our strike at around 1 pm as we saw no other option,” said a student. The university officials called the student representative for talks. “They asked for one day to resolve the crisis, but we are not getting any positive response for them. So we have no other option but to continue the strike,” said a student.
Meanwhile the university in a statement has termed the strike ‘by a few students’ as unjustified. University has alleged that the protest, after resolving all issues, is motivated and it has been launched to malign the image of the University.
In a press statement, spokesman of the University said that after deliberation with students by the University authorities and district administration, all the issues were resolved and registrar Mohammad Rashid Chowdhary was transferred as OSD to Vice-Chancellor till the investigation is completed. He has already assumed office as OSD besides has surrendered his official vehicle to the officiating registrar Mohammad Ishaq.
The University handout said that new officiating registrar has assumed charge on August 22 soon after issuance of order by the University.
University termed the reports about Chowdhary violating University order by not leaving registrar office and vehicle as untrue. “This is totally concocted story and there is no truth in it”, official handout said, adding that Chowdhary has already joined as OSD within 15 minutes of the issuance of order.
The students however contested the official claim and said that university is trying to protect Chowdhary.
