PU student absolved of charge of TTP links

PU spokesman said action would be taken against university security officer Major (r) Saleem for violating the SOP

LAHORE: A Punjab University (PU) student arrested by law enforcement agencies on Thursday for suspicion of links with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was released several hours later after he told them that he had no affiliation with the terrorist organisation.

“Security agencies took me into custody from the Hostel 15 underpass. They questioned me for six to seven hours and released me when they could not establish my links to any terrorist group,” Attique Afridi, a BCom student, told The Express Tribune.

PU spokesman Khurram Shahzad said action would be taken against university security officer Major (r) Saleem for violating the standard operating procedure.

Attique Afridi, a student of Hailey College of Commerce, a constituent college of the Punjab University, was rounded up by intelligence officials after he allegedly vowed to avenge killings of former TTP leaders Nek Mohammad and Baitullah Mehsud, sources said.

Afridi, who hails from Khyber-Agency, one of the seven semi-autonomous regions in country’s northwest, was recently dropped out of the college because of his poor academic record, sources added.

In December last year, at least 12 Punjab University students were handed over to police following a fierce clash between the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) and two other student groups, which had left at least four students injured.

Witnesses had said the clash erupted following a scuffle between some IJT activists and a Pakhtun student at the Gender Studies Department. They said the student was severely beaten up by the IJT activists. A number of students associated with the Pakhtun and the Baloch Councils, two student groups, had soon gathered at the scene. Three IJT activists were injured in the clash that ensued.



IJT spokesperson Amjad Bukhari denied that IJT activists were involved in any harassment incident. “We don’t indulge in such practices,” he said. He also dismissed the suggestion that the clash was started by some IJT men.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2016.