GILGIT: The students of Karakoram International University (KIU) on Thursday staged a protest sit-in outside the campus blocking roads against fee hike, administrative mismanagement and other issues.

The students announced that they would continue their protest till fulfillment of their demands. The sit-in continued when this report was filed at 9:45pm on Thursday.

A large number of students from the main campus boycotted their classes in the morning and staged the protest blocking the KIU Road and Dayor Road. The protesters were chanting slogans against the university administration and support of their demands.

The protest call was given by the All-Students Alliance, KIU.

The students said they had been protesting for acceptance of their demands for over a year.

They said the university administration had been increasing the semester fees against Higher Education Commission (HEC)`s policy.

They said the semester fee had been increased by 135 per cent since 2020 while only 10pc increase could be made in a year under the HEC policy.

They accused the university administration of mismanaging resources, adding the university received higher fees from students without providing them facilities.

The federal and GB governments provide billions of rupees to the university annually, but they were not being used for providing facilities on the campus, they added.

The protesters said mismanagement and financial irregularities at the university had put thousands of students` future at stake.

Ammar Hassan, the chairman of the All Students Alliance, while talking to Dawn said there should be a financialaudit of the university funds.

Besides a decrease in the semester fees, he added, the other demands of the protesters were establishment of an anti-harassment cell, restoration of student unions and financial audit of the university funds.

They said classes were conducted only for two months in a semester while many departments had no faculty members.

The students face many issues for research work, including shortage of faculty, transportation, classrooms and access tointernet and library.

The protesters said 11 students of the university had been suspended and expelled after registration of an FIR against them for raising the issues of the university.

They said there is no freedom of speech, students are being victimised for raising voice for their rights. KIU is the only public-sector university in the region where more than 10,000 localstudents are enrolled.

In October this year, after a weeklong protest, the GB government had assured the students of solving theissues of KIU. Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Youth Affairs Zabiullah and Special Assistant to Chief Minister Hussain Shah had negotiated with the students and persuaded them to call off their protest.

The government had promised to provide a Rs300 million grant for the university to decrease the semester fees. The protesters said after over one month, the government couldn`t fulfil its promise, forcing the students to start the protest again.

Sources said on Thursday Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Youth Affairs Zabiullah and Special Assistant Hussain Shah reached the KIU and told the administration that the GB government had already released a grant to decrease the semester fees.

When contacted, Mr Zabiullah told Dawn that a cheque for Rs50 million of the promised Rs200 million grant had been handed over to the university officials.

He said the university will issue a notification decreasing the semester fees soon.