Gomal University man stabs female classmate in dean’s office

Seriously wounded Mariam accuses Arshad of harassment in FIR.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: In what appears to be a case of unrequited romance, a male Gomal University student stabbed a female classmate at the university’s city campus in Dera Ismail Khan, university officials confirmed on Thursday.

Mariam*, a first year student, was seriously wounded after Arshad* Mehsud attacked her at the Faculty of Agriculture. She was immediately rushed to the nearby Civil District Hospital DI Khan where the staff declared that her condition was out of danger. They said she had been stabbed seven times with a knife in different parts of the body.

“When Mariam realised that Arshad was going to attack her, she started running towards the dean’s office. But he chased her blindly,” said Muhammad Salim, a witness and classmate of Mariam. “She tried to lock the door [of the dean’s office] behind her but he broke the door, rushed in and stabbed her with a knife in front of the dean, professors and security guards.”

Without resistance, the attacker left the dean’s office and went away, a disbelieving Salim said.

A Gomal Police official said that Mariam had registered an FIR against Arshad once she regained consciousness at the hospital. “Arshad Mehsud was harassing me, insisting that I should meet him at the university’s campus. When I turned him down, he attacked me,” she said.

Mariam is a resident of Islamia Colony in DI Khan city. Her family members expressed shock at the attack, terming it a ‘disgraceful’ act.

Arshad hails from South Waziristan Agency but his family lives in Islamabad and he lives at the university’s boys’ hostel. “Arshad was expelled from the faculty [of agriculture] but re-admitted two days ago,” Vice-Chancellor Dr Mansoor Akbar Kundi told the media at the hospital, where he had gone to visit Mariam with other university officials.

*Names have been changed to protect identities.