LAHORE: Government College University (GCU) caretaker Vice Chancellor Muhammad Ali Shah has provisionally allowed two students to appear in examinations after being banned from entering the campus due to a disciplinary committee’s decision. They were declared persona non grata for holding a candlelit vigil for APS martyrs on the campus on Dec 16. The GCU disciplinary committee had prohibited Ali Abdullah Khan, a BS Economics fifth-semester student, and Eqbal Khan, an LLB seventh-semester student, from entering the campus on Dec 18, 2024. On Jan 6, the students attempted to enter the campus but were stopped by security guards, who had posted pictures and an order from the disciplinary committee at the entry gate, declaring the students persona non grata. Abdullah told Dawn that they were unaware of the disciplinary action until they were stopped from entering the campus. He said they had not been informed about the committee’s decision, nor were they given a hearing. “We were called for a hearing on the morning of Jan 7 and were not allowed to sit in the examination on Jan 7,” he said. The committee had verbally informed them that the action was taken because they held a candlelight vigil in memory of APS martyrs on campus without permission. The students had organised a candlelight vigil for martyrs of APS on Dec 16 on the campus and the disciplinary committee had barred them from entering the campus for not taking permission to hold the candlelight vigil from the administration. The students appealed to the VC to allow them to complete their studies by appearing in the examinations. The incident gained attention on social media, with civil society and political activists raising concerns about the students being denied the opportunity to take their exams. Taking notice of the incident, VC Muhammad Ali Shah provisionally allowed the students to take their examinations and directed the disciplinary committee to complete its proceedings after the exams.