New Delhi: Pakistani aspirants in Quetta who were appearing for medical exams had two complaints — the online questions were out of course and many who are yet to take the test have been failed. When they protested this at Edhi Chowk in Quetta, they got brutally lathi- charged by the police. Now that has become the students’ third complaint that is snowballing into giant online anger against Prime minister Imran Khan’s government. Hashtags such as #ShameOnQuettaPolice #shameonpmc #werejecttepsmdcatkey are targeting Imran Khan and his promise of Naya Pakistan. 300 seats of the Bolan Medical College were up for grabs.
Dawn reported that more than 50 students were taken into custody Wednesday and many more injured.
“The candidates who are yet to appear in some papers for the online test have also been declared ‘fail’ without giving them the chance even to appear in those papers,” said Haseebullah Baloch, Chairman of the Students Action Committee.
Baloch has demanded inquiry into these alleged irregularities and said the future of hundreds of students of Balochistan was at stake.
These protests and the subsequent police action brought Twitter to a boil in Pakistan with many tweeting against Imran Khan, his party and the country’s medical regulatory body, the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC). People questioned Khan’s Naya Pakistan.
#ShameOnQuettaPolice #shameonpmc @ImranKhanPTI @pmc_org shame @jam_kamal is this is your naya Pakistan where students are not even allowed to protest .so proud of you mr pm ??this is your pmc and this is your one test for all rule .Thank you for making us regret thay we r in pk https://t.co/zp0s48n1uf
— Irtiza khanzada (@Irtizakhan02) September 9, 2021
Awaz uthengi pr daba de Jaengi
Imran Khan
EVM se zayada ye 2 lac students important hen
6000 fees
Test duration 31 days
No rechecking also not allowed to check ur result though our self
Welcome to New Pakistan@ImranKhanPTI@pmc_org#werejectPMC #MDCTIANWantKey #ShameOnPTI pic.twitter.com/ugm3wOTX9j— Haris Rajput (@HarisRa33151774) September 8, 2021
Rejecting the PMC, an account said: “stop playing with the future of Pakistan”.
@ImranKhanPTI @ArifAlvi @Shafqat_Mahmood
Respected leaders of Pakistan !!!
Stop Playing with the Futures of students
وہ ذات کسی سے دور نہیں ہے
اور جب وہ انصاف کرنے پے آءے نا ۔۔۔تو آپ جیسے لوگوں کا بھیانک حشر ہوتا ہے
We reject PMC ##— Adeeba Iqbal (@AdeebaIqbal12) September 9, 2021
Even a Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) supporter came forward to criticise the PMC.
Imran khan sahib ap q PMC kay khelaf action nahe lay. PMC bacho ka zendagi kharb kar raha hai tajrobat kar raha hai.main as PTI suporter ap say kehta hon k ju khuwab apnay hum ko dikaya ta woh ye pakistan tu nahe ta..please student ko un ka haq day.@ImranKhanPTI @ShahramKTarakai
— asadullah jan (@asadullahjan772) September 9, 2021
Studying abroad was never difficult for me but still I wanted to study in Pak and serve my own country. But this is what our people are giving us. So what's the point of thinking about Pakistan's future? Isse bhi zyada kuch bura hona baaki hai? @pmc_org#WerejectTEPSMDCATkey
— Non Toxic Tweets (@beingmyself234) September 8, 2021
Then there were those who called out Imran Khan for “destroying the field of medicine” by appointing a corrupt man to head the PMC.
I thought our PM @ImranKhanPTI isn’t a corrupt man but what i see he brought A Lawyer to appoint him as VP PMC Ali @ImranKhanPTI will be responsible for supporting his people in PAkistan medical commission and Destroying the field of medicine in Pakistan
— Shan Siddique (@billioaz) September 8, 2021
Many posted pictures of injured students with their clothes stained in blood, after the police crackdown.
This is how the so
Called Future of Pakistan(youth) is being treated!! They were just protesting for their basic rights. Such brutal acts by police are a blackstigma to the face of humanity & their profession @ImranKhanPTI@pmc_org#werejecttepsmdcatkey pic.twitter.com/3nw0k8LNkR— Ume-Aiman Shahzad (@shahzad_ume) September 8, 2021
Some even used Bollywood memes to convey their displeasure of the PMC.
This is bcz we are under such a pathetic gov..who only wants the throne but dont consider the futures of students who are the assets of Pakistan…..
Shame!!!!!!!!!!!shame PMC!!!!shame PTI gov…..#WerejectTEPSMDCATkey https://t.co/qkWTutd6RZ— Fatima (@Fatima85011978) September 8, 2021
Twitter was full of posts of students who had been injured. Many had bloodstained-bandaged heads due to the ‘torture by Balochistan Police’. Videos from the protest show the Balochistan Police shoving students into police vans.
One even questioned if this violence by the Pakistan police was so-called ‘Riyasat-e-Madina’— a welfare state?
That's so called Riyasat-e-Madina???
Quetta Police lathi Charge on students protesting against Pakistan Medical Commission.#ShameOnPMC #ShameOnQuettaPolice#WeRejectPmcMdcatTest2021 #werejectTepsMdcatkeys #werejectPmcmdcat2021 @geonews_urdu @humnewspakistan @24NewsHD pic.twitter.com/qlyju8hcoi— Tanveer Ahmed (@TanveerAhmed076) September 8, 2021
It is very unfortunate that the students who protested against the irregularities in the entrance test of the Pakistan Medical Commission were arrested after being charged with batons.
We strongly condemn this oppressive policing of students pic.twitter.com/kxk37PUT5H— Attaullah buzdar (@Attaullahbuzda5) September 8, 2021
Following police action, many students held a sit-in before the Quetta Press Club. They said they would continue to agitate till their demands were not accepted and also sought action against police brutality.
Some students tried marching towards the ‘Red Zone’ where offices of the civil secretariat and houses of the chief minister and governor are located, but were stopped by the authorities.