IIUI hostel antics: Students say they were locked in

Rector says the three women were expelled from the hostel.

ISLAMABAD:

Detention of a student in her hostel room by the management of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) turned out to be a storm in a teacup after she was recovered by a bailiff on Saturday.

Neelam Jan, a PhD student, was recovered by a court bailiff after she had been allegedly confined to her room for 16 hours by the hostel management. He raided the hostel to rescue her and arrested the warden, Shaista and was sent by District and Sessions Judge (West) Raja Jawad Hassan in response to an application filed by Neelam’s father.

Advocate Sher Afzal, her father’s counsel maintained that the hostel staff had detained the girl since Friday night after she and other students raised their voice against the management. The counsel contended that two other students Romana Khattak and Hiba Shabbir were also confined to their room but they broke the lock and approached the court.

During the proceedings, Neelam, Khattak, and Shabbir recorded their statements, alleging that the management had detained them illegally after they opposed its new rules, including curfew timings.

Our hostel membership was cancelled after we protested against mistreatment, said Shabbir, while talking to the media outside the court. Despite the stay order, the administration locked us up, added the students.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court noted that students could live freely wherever they wanted. The judge also observed that students had the right to register their complaint. The court released Shaista.

A while later, the student submitted an application in Sabzi Mandi Police Station against the IIUI management and nominated Administration Director General Gulzar Khawaja, Security In-charge Col (retd) Amjad Zaman and Shaista. Repeated attempts were made to contact Sabzi Mandi SHO, however, he was not available for comment.

When contacted, IIUI Rector Dr Masoom Yasinzai said the university had expelled all three students. He said the hostel administration had imposed restrictions for the students’ safety and no student was allowed to go out after 8pm. These three students violated the rules and led a protest, he added. “They had already been expelled but they obtained a stay order from the court. However, the decision was announced in IIUI’s favour upon appeal.”

Yasinzai claimed that the administration had traced their addresses but they were found to be fake. “We won’t expel them from the hostel till February 25, the day the court order expires. After that we will decide about their future,” he added.

The tussle between the students and the management started in December last year when the girls held a protest against new rules which dictated that they return to the hostel before Maghrib prayers at around 5pm. On January 4, IIUI’s management had expelled five students from the hostels for leading the protest.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2014.