PESHAWAR: Several students sustained injuries here on Sunday when police resorted to baton charge to disperse a protest staged by Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) outside Khyber Medical College at University of Peshawar.

IJT was protesting against the administration for not allowing it to hold a book fair in the college. The injured students were shifted to Khyber Teaching Hospital where they were provided with medical treatment.

A member of IJT told Dawn that the college administration had permitted them to hold the annual bool< fair on Sunday.

However, he said, when they reached the college on Sunday morning, they found its gate closed by the administration.

He said that students held a sit-in outside KMC that continued peacefully for some time. However, campus police resorted to baton charge without any justification, he alleged. Several students got injured due to police indiscriminate baton charge, he added.

The protesting students moved to the busy Jamrud Road and blocked it to all kinds of vehicular trafHc as a protest against police and KMC administration.

The road was blocked till filing of this report. The blockage of the busy road caused problems to commuters. Long queues of vehicles were seen on Jamrud Road and other arteries for several hours.

The protesting students were demanding immediate removal of the administrative officer and dean of KMC and campus police officers. They said that they would not end the blocl(ade of road till acceptance of their demand. The administration was yet to accept their demand.

An official of KMC, when contacted, said that IJT had requested the dean forholding book fair on the premises of the college several days ago. However, the dean asked them to organise the book fair under the umbrella of the literary society of KMC as holding it under the IJT would give an impressing of political activity, he added.

He said that the dean of KMC approached the Board of Governors of the college, which didn`t allow holding the book fair it under the auspices of IJT.

The protesters were led by IJT campus president Taqweemul Haq, who strongly criticised the college administration and campus police for using force against students.

He said that students were holding a peaceful protest against the `unlawful and unjustified` action of the college administration to ban an academic activity, which they had been arranging for the past five decades in the college.

The IJT leader said that `KMC bookfair` was a regular feature of the history of the medical college. He claimed that it the 51 annual book fair of the college that was being arranged after formal permission of the college administration.

He said that the college administrative officer was solely responsible for the entire situation.

He said when they finalised all arrangements for the event and invited book dealers from across the country to set up their stalls and provide books to students at subsidised prices, the college administration closed the venue for them, putting them in an extremely awkward position.

The IJT leader said that they would hold the event at any cost. He said that police action was totally uncalled for and a height of atrocity againstinnocent students. `We will keep the road blocked until the officials responsible are removed from the important positionsand justice is provided to students. We are ready to render every sacrifice for our just cause,` he declared.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami provincial leader Abdul Wasi condemned police action against IJT and termed it an attempt to impose restrictions on an education-friendly event like book fair on the premises of KMC.

He said that the anti-student and antieducation police administration deployed at University of Peshawar should be immediately removed from the province`s largest and most peaceful academic institution.

He said that action should be taken against police officials responsible for baton charge. He said that drug use and unethical activities were common in universities right under the police`s watch without any restrictions, but students faced ban and violence when they organised educational activities such as book fairs.