QAU set to re-open today after three-day closure

Teachers, students ask why are students allowed to keep guns

ISLAMABAD: Teachers and students at the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) have raised questions about why students are allowed to bring guns to campus as the varsity is set to reopen on May 25 (today).

The university had been closed ‘indefinitely’ after dozens of students were injured when two armed student groups clashed in the varsity on May 20. Police and Rangers had to be called in as the student groups shot at each other.



“The fight could have turned bloody and violent had the administration not alerted the police and Rangers,” said Dr Asif of the Mathematics Department at QAU.

“Why are the students allowed to keep weapons in the campus,” the professor asked, as he went on to question the lethargy of university’s administration which only springs into action once the situation has deteriorated.

Dr Asif went on to suggest that divisions and student politics on the basis of ethnicity should not be allowed rather it should be based on subjects, department or parties.

“Petty issues of students could have been resolved in time,” said Zarak Khan, a student.

“Other students could have been spared from the mental torture,” he said before lamenting the university’s failure in clamping down on issues.  “Issue is of administrative capacity and of engaging students in university life constructively.”

Other faculty and students said that such incidents only serve to tarnish the image of one of the top ranking university’s in the country and that the administration should take timely steps to diffuse any hatred brewing among students.

University reopens

The QAU in a statement released on Wednesday said that it would resume academic activities on May 25 (Thursday).

“The university deeply regrets the violence erupted on the campus on May 20, by two student groups,” the statement from the varsity’s acting registrar Dr Imtiazud Din read.

It added that students would be allowed to return to their hostels but access would only be granted once their identity is confirmed and a satisfactory search of their allotted rooms is conducted.

Moreover, classes would be held on Saturday to cover the academic loss suffered due to the closure of the university for three working days.



The varsity said that a committee of senior faculty members has been assigned to investigate the clash and to submit recommendations to avoid such incidents in the future. Moreover, the varsity said that students responsible for the violence had been identified and would be dealt with according to the university’s disciplinary rules.

In this regard, Dr Din said that the admissions of the office bearers of the Mehran and Baloch student councils had been suspended with immediate effect while their cases had been forwarded to the university’s disciplinary committee for further probe and decision.

At the same time, the acting registrar said that all those students who were named in the FIR would face the course of law.

The university warned students that in the even they mobilised for any kind of illegal activity on campus, the students involved in such an activity would be rusticated from the university.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2017.