IIUI shut, hostels vacated after clash

Senator Sirajul Haq leads funeral prayers of deceased student

ISLAMABAD: Funeral prayers of the student who died in a clash between two rival groups at International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) were offered on Friday.

The university has been closed after Thursday’s clash in which Islami Jamiat Tulba (IJT) activist Syed Tufailur Rehman Hashmi died and nearly 20 were injured. While varsity’s administration has got hostels vacated for a combing operation, police have arrested at least 60 suspects.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq led the funeral prayers of Tufail Hashmi at Kashmir Highway. A large number of activists and citizens besides JI leaders Liaquat Baloch, Mian Muhammad Aslam and Muhammad Amir attended the funeral.

Addressing the gathering before the funeral prayers, Haq said that IIUI must explain the presence of firearms on the campus.

The weapons were being collected for a while but the administration seemed to the sleeping, he said.

Haq said he was appalled to know that people were calling it a clash, whereas it was a one-sided attack on a peaceful group of students known for promoting education, patriotism and character building.

The senator said that the two days of the Education Expo were reserved for male and one day for female students. However, the university’s management first cut out the power and then refused to grant permission. “Besides the hooligans, the blood of the martyr is on the hands of Islamabad administration and university management,” Haq said.

Meanwhile, IJT Nazim Aala Muhammad Amir said he had talked to Hashmi’s father, Abd al Jalal Syed, who said his other sons were also ready to be martyred. The Jamiat leader said that a conspiracy was being hatched against the restoration of student unions.

The university's top administration including the rector must be suspended within 48 hours, he demanded, saying that the rector helped form student councils on basis of ethnic groups.

The linguistic councils at the campus have led to ethnic fissures among the students, Amir said.

The university saw an influx of weapons but no one stopped it, if the killers were not arrested and the linguistic councils were not banned within two days, “we will resort to protests in educational institutions,” the chief of IJT said.

Opposing view

On the other hand, Saraiki Students Council Chairman Ali Naqi Ammar has also reacted on the incident. He said that he was at the university at around 5.30 pm when workers from IJT attacked him with iron rods causing injuries to his head and face.

“Two members of Saraiki Council took me to Pims from where I was shifted to a private hospital,” Ammar said. “I do not know what happened afterwards. The murder of the deceased student must be investigated,” he added

Ammar said two top officials of the Saraiki Council were with him and he was in the hospital and had no idea who attacked the Jamiat event. “I do not know who attacked the Jamiat,” he said.

Sources say the dispute began over the participation of female students at the three-day Education Expo organised by the IJT. It had kept two days for men and one day for women. However, the varsity’s administration had disallowed the day-three event and cut power supply to disrupt the programme.

As per the IIUI policy, women students were not allowed to attend events at the male campus. The Islamic University follows its segregation policy religiously.

On the other hand, students who had organised the expo said IIUI women students come to see events at male campus in full purdah. Proper arrangements of purdah had been made for women at the expo, they said.

Campus crackdown

Meanwhile, IIUI administration got its hostels vacated in the presence of heavy contingent of Islamabad police as tensions simmered day after Saraiki Council students stormed an IJT event.

There were around 3,000 students living in the hostels, of which nearly 1,100 except foreign students have been sent home.

A high-level committee has been formed to remove illegal students in the hostel. The committee will present its report in two days.

In the meantime, IJT IIUI Nazim Fahad Khan Babar filed a complaint with Sabzi Mandi police in which more than 20 suspects including Aimal Khan, Azhar Lashari and Dar Muhammad Lund have been nominated.

Suspects remanded

A judicial magistrate on Friday approved four-day physical remand of 16 men police had rounded up overnight. The suspects were among people nominated in the FIR lodged by IIUI Nazim Babar. Presenting the 16 students in the court, police requested physical remand citing the need for investigation in the case. The court approved the remand and adjourned hearing till December 17.

Combing operation

IIUI President Ahmed Yousif Ahmed Al-Draiweesh said on Friday he was saddened over Thursday’s violent incident. A meeting held to review the situation, offered fateha for the departed soul and prayed for the early reciovery of the injured.

Draiweesh said IIUI management has decided to launch a combing operation with the help of interior ministry at university's hostels.

Discussing the issues pertaining to entrance of outsiders on the premises of the varsity, IIUI Rector Dr Masoom Yasinzai and President Draiweesh constituted a high level committee to present a report within two days regarding the unfortunate happening at the campus.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2019.