ISLAMABAD: Scores of students from International Islamic University Islamabad (IIU) on Sunday staged a protest demonstration against the university administration for not allotting them hostels.

The protest was staged in front of the National Press Club. The protesters alleged that during the summer break the university after breaking locks of their hostel rooms had thrown out their belongings.

They said for the last three days, many students had been living under the open sky as the university was not providing them rooms in the hostel. They also stated that the university had been facing administrative issues for the last many years, but the administration was targeting the boarding students.

A couple of weeks ago, IIUI students said they had been given four-day notices to vacate all hostels. They said 4,500 students had been asked to vacate the hostels in the summer break.

Addressing a press conference, President Action Committee Ahmed Abdullah and Qasim Shahid had said before the start of the summer vacation the university administration got the hostels vacated from all students in the name of renovations, adding now the students were being asked to collect their belongings. They had said if anyone was illegally staying in hostels it was the responsibility of the university administration to remove them, but in the name of illegal occupants, thousands of genuine students could not be deprived of the hostel facility.

Following the notices, the IIUI administration removed belongings of students, which according to IIUI spokesperson Nasir Farid have been kept in a hall. He said a large number of students belonging to various political parties had been living in hostels illegally and to remove them the university had decided to get the hostels vacated for making allotments afresh. He said the university will reopen on September 9 and before this the process of new allotments will be completed.

Sources said the university was supposed to reopen on September 2 (today), but due to administration and students’ issue, the reopening date was extended till September 9. — Staff Reporter