Daily Times

Medical students across Islamabad are out on the streets for the third consecutive day Sunday. The demonstrators gathered near D-Chowk and planned to march towards the Red Zone.

Consequently, a heavy police contingent arrived at the protest site and sealed the road leading towards the Red Zone. Students have been out on the streets since Thursday. They initially protested outside the Pakistan Medical Commission but didn’t receive any response.

The protesters want the Pakistan Medical Commission to conduct the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) again on a single day across the province. They claimed that the data of students was stolen after the website of the private company holding the MDCAT was hacked. “We want Prime Minister Imran Khan to oversee the matter. The future of hundreds of students is at stake,” one of the protesters said, adding that they won’t budge unless their demands are met.

Another student said that the PMC claims it’s difficult to take tests on a single day given to the Covid situation. “Everything else is open. Things have gone back to normal in every other sector. Why is it just us suffering,” he asked. “If India can conduct exams of over a million students in a day why can’t the commission do so too for 200,000 students?” On September 23, a large number of medical students gathered outside Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry with a similar demand.