October 28, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 1, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: The disciplinary committee of the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) on Monday expelled seven students, including the chairmen of Punjab and Pakhtoon councils, official sources told Dawn.

The five-member disciplinary committee, headed by Dr Khawaja Azam Ali, has also rusticated three students, besides censuring a number of others. The move came after a recent clash between two student bodies that resulted in the killing of a history department student.

The sources said the committee, on October 24 and 25, discussed the recurrence of violent incidents on the campus with the resident and security officers of the university, provost, senior warden and wardens of the boys hostels.

After that, the committee first listened to and then crossed questioned the students, both the complainants and the accused, individually.

The sources said the committee had unanimously agreed to award various punishments to students, ranging from expulsion to the issuing of censure letters.

Those expelled from the university are Asmatullah, Biology department-III semester; Gull Wali, Biology-IV; Bilal Hanif, MBA- III; Usman Ijaz Bajwa, International Relations-IV; Khurram Iftikhar Sahi, International Relations-IV; Muzammal Mushtaq, International Relations-IV; Aurangzeb Khan, MBA-IV. These students will not allowed to enter the campus on any grounds.

Similarly, Syed Shahryar Gilani, MSc-IV Area Study Centre; Abdul Zahir Khan, MPA-II; Rana Zeshan Haider, Defence and Strategic Studies-IV, have been rusticated from the university till the end of Fall semester 2004.

Besides this, as many as 18 students have been handed down various punishments, including suspension of admissions for certain periods, fines, cancelling of hostel allotments and placement on probations.

An official source, privy to the disciplinary committee, said it was for the first time in the history of the university that there was complete consensus among the committee members over the punishments decided for the students.

He said the university administration had also decided to further activate the disciplinary committee so that no trouble maker would be able to go scott-free if found guilty.

The university has also decided to start MSc classes from next Monday since it has made all the arrangements to complete the reshuffling of students living in hostels by that time. It may be added here that to end the monopoly of ethnic councils on boys hostels, the university has decided to allot hostel rooms semester-wise.

Previously, hostels were occupied by the ethnically divided student councils and the office-bearers of these bodies managed hostel affairs, starting from allotments to the running of mess.

Meanwhile, research PhD and M.Phil students, who have been allowed to attend classes, are sceptical whether the university administration will be able to control the current wave of violence on the campus.

A number of students, talking to this reporter, said the university administration needed to strengthen its control, especially on hostels, if it was interested in making campus a safer place for students.