500 Poonch Medical College Students at Risk of Losing an Academic Year as Closure Persists Amid Protests.

DC Syed Mumtaz Kazmi appealed to civil society to reopen Poonch Medical College before Aug 10, warning that closure risks 500 students losing an academic year. The college sits a few hundred yards from a disallowed Joint Awami Action Committee sit‑in at the Eidgah. The sit‑in has checkpoints on roads and armed people keep checking commuters, throwing stones, creating fear. Because of this security situation, the college suspended academic and administrative activities for the past two months, preventing students from 10 AJK districts, Gilgit‑Baltistan, and other parts of Pakistan from attending classes. The college follows the University of Health Sciences, Lahore's academic calendar. Failure to complete attendance and exams by the prescribed dates could cause irreparable academic loss. The next UHS internal assessment is scheduled for Aug 15, after a possible three‑day examination. The DC also warned that the registration of an attached nursing college could be jeopardised. The Pakistan Nursing Council was to inspect during the second week of Aug. Delaying the visit could remove the proposed nursing college from the district. The DC called for a meeting with local elected representatives, notables, diaspora, academics, and civil society to devise a security plan. He added that if the situation continues, students might have to transfer to other medical colleges, and the nursing college could fail to receive registration, leading to irreparable loss for Poonch and AJK.