Jamiat men rough up philosophy students

Ten dragged out of hostel rooms, thrashed, deputy warden injured.

LAHORE:

Five Punjab University (PU) students and a deputy warden had to be taken to the hospital after they were beaten by nearly two dozen allegedly Islami Jamiat Taliba (IJT) men in Hostel No 7 for protesting against the organisation.

Sharukh, a student in the Philosophy Department, said some twenty IJT activists entered the hostel looking for the Philosophy Department who had organised an anti-IJT protest during the week. Ten students were dragged out of their rooms and subjected to a beating.

As they sped out, the hooligans were stopped by the superintendent and the deputy superintendent. They misbehaved with both, injuring the deputy superintendent and an attendant. Later, some of them fired some shots in the air. PU Vice Chancellor Mujahid Kamran, on Sunday afternoon, visited the hostel and advised the students to stay united and not be intimidated.

Five students, Shahid Ali Khan, Shahrukh, Syed Kashif, Mazhar, Ishaq Ahmad, attendant Mumtaz Manj and deputy superintendent, Hassan Siddiqui, were taken to Jinnah Hospital for treatment.

Shahrukh said that the IJT activists had brutally thrashed his fellow students. He said that four men had fired shots to scare students away. One of the bullets, the student said, had ricocheted and injured the deputy warden. He added that one of the men had pointed a gun at Prof Shahid Gul.

Shahrukh said that they had made several calls to Rescue 15 and the Muslim Town police station but no help was provided.

Another student, Shahid Ali said there had been no improvement in security around the hostel. He said that IJT activists were now threatening them with dire consequences unless they leave PU. He said no concrete action had been taken against IJT thugs in Punjab University to curb their hooliganism.

Twelve days back a student from the Philosophy Department was beaten by two IJT activists for coming to university on a Saturday when the university was closed. A few days later another student of the department was beaten for speaking to female students. Later, a protest organised by female students and faculty members was intercepted by IJT activists who tried to forcibly stop the rally.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2011.