LAHORE: KE hostels raided for 'illegal occupants' - 37 rooms sealed
By Zulqernain Tahir
LAHORE, Aug 19: King Edward Medical College officials and police raided the college hostels in the early hours of Wednesday and sealed 37 rooms in a bid to flush out illegal occupants believed to have links with Jamaatu Da'wa.
Sources in the KEMC said the police sealed the main gates of the Broom, New and Main Hall hostels in Gowalmandi and the Hall Road Hostel at 3am, as the chief warden, hostels' chairmen and some police officials raided rooms of the hostels in search of "illegal occupants".
A thorough search of at least 40 rooms led to no "illegal occupant". However, two of the sealed rooms had Jamaatu Da'wa stickers pasted on the doors, the sources said. The sources quoted the administration as saying that it had reports that some students of the Broom Hostel were harbouring members of a banned outfit.
The sealed rooms include Broom Hostel's 1, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 25, 31, 32, 34, 39, 40, 49, 50, 51 and 52, New Hostel's 12, 17, 19, 22, 46, 103, 110, 115, 118, 119-B, 129 and 134, Main Hall's 219 and Hall Road Hostel's 118, 201, 209, 214,219, 224, 228 and 323.
A notification (No. 85\604\BH\2004) displayed on hotels' notice boards says that during a surprise inspection, illegal occupants' rooms have been sealed and allotment of these rooms cancelled with immediate effect. If anybody tries to unlock these rooms strict action will be taken against him. The Mess entertainment has also been suspended till further orders.
The affected students told Dawn on Thursday that the administration had taken unprecedented action in the name of flushing out illegal occupants. No prior notice was served by the administration, they maintained. They said their guests had been staying in some of the sealed rooms.
They said they were expelled from their rooms in night-dress and were not even allowed to take out necessary luggage. They said that some 60 students and doctors of the prestigious institution displaced by the action had to spend the night at hostels' canteens.
They said they met Chief Warden Prof Abdul Majid Chaudhry and KEMC Principal Prof Dr Mumtaz Hasan on Thursday morning, but the latter refused to de-seal the rooms saying that they had saved them from bigger trouble by taking this action.
When contacted in this regard, Prof Dr Mumtaz Hasan refused to offer any comment saying that he did not like to talk to the media. However, Prof Abdul Majid claimed that it was a routine inspection. City SP Dr Usman Anwar said he was unaware of the action.
