LAHORE: Academic activities at Punjab University remained suspended on Thursday after a boycott call by the Academic Staff Association (ASA). The teachers had announced a boycott of classes on Wednesday after the alleged manhandling of some teachers by Islami Jamiat Taliba (IJT) activists. Faculty of the Department of Chemistry met on Thursday to condemn the Wednesday incident. They demanded that the students responsible be arrested and punished so that such incidents are not repeated. Jamiat members, on the other hand, announced that they were going to start a “countrywide movement” against the killing of Awais Aqeel on May 13. IJT information secretary Arif Hussain accused the teachers of “engaging in politics instead of solving problems”.A PU spokesman denied Jamiat’s allegation that a college principal was involved in Aqeel’s murder. He said that according to the FIR, registered by a Jamiat member, Aqeel had a fight with Ibrar Wattoo two months ago. Wattoo has been nominated as one of the attackers, he said. The spokesman said the FIR was “proof” that Wattoo had killed Aqeel.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2012.
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