Muzaffarabad, PoK, June 16, 2015: Medical students in Pakistan occupied Kashmir are agitated over the government's apathy in granting recognition to their college degrees. Pakistan's federal government has refused to shut down the colleges, and not even grant recognition to the medical schools. The streets of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir or PoK are echoing with loud anti-government slogans yet again. The medical students in capital Muzaffarabad recently took to huge protests against the lack of recognition of their institutes. The demand of their rights, mainly affiliation with a recognized university brought out the anger in them against the apathetic government in Islamabad. Students said their local degrees stand of no use outside PoK. Pakistan has kept the remote region of PoK away from basic rights and education to counter any dissent. It has not even given recognition to the selected few colleges and universities that exist in the name of education sector here. Protestors claim due to the absence of the names of their medical colleges in the official list, they cannot take exams or get jobs elsewhere. Pakistan government has set a quota system for Kashmiri students in the medical colleges across Pakistan but has ignored the plight of students studying in Pakistani Kashmir because of the disputed nature of the region. But the youth of PoK claim that thousands of students are not able to get admission into even these colleges, as the reserved seats are filled by their counterparts from Pakistan.
