KARACHI, Feb 16: In view of the law and order situation and maintenance of peace during Muharram, all colleges in the city have been closed till Ashura.

This was announced by Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui on Wednesday night after holding an emergency meeting with a selected group of college principals and senior city police officials at his office.

The meeting reviewed the law and order situation in colleges, which deteriorated during the last some days after two student groups clashed with each other in the vicinity of some colleges in Saddar, Gulberg and Gulshan towns.

After the meeting, Rauf Siddiqui told Dawn that there was a consensus in the meeting that all colleges in the city should be closed for two days (i.e. Feb 17 and 18) and be reopened on Feb 21 after Ashura.

The minister said that Executive District Officer (Education) was being informed to ensure compliance of the decision reached during the meeting in regard to closure of colleges. However, for a durable solution of the long-standing problem of hostilities among different sections of students, a meeting of all college principals would be convened on Feb 21, he added, saying that police officials would also attend the meeting so that any practical way could be determined and implemented.

He said the meeting recommended setting up of committees at all government colleges in the province. The proposed committees, to be headed by college principals, would include TPOs/DPOs. It was decided that in case of any breach of peace at any college, the principal concerned would be held responsible.

The meeting was attended by CCPO Tariq Jamil, TPOs of Saddar, Gulshan and Jamshed towns and principals or representatives of Dow Medical College, Urdu varsity, Sir Syed university, City College, Islamia Science College, Islamia Arts and Commerce College, S.M. Arts and Commerce College.

The principals were told not to observe leniency to any group of students and take actions as required, irrespective of their political belonging. Students could be detained at the college or police stations till late so that parents of the students could come to know about the misconduct of their wards at the educational institutes.

Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui said that the decision to close the colleges was taken, because there was some information of sensitive nature with reference to Muharram-ul-Haram. Besides, he said, police were also preoccupied as they were put on high alert to meet any eventuality.

When he was told that principals in general did not consider police effective against student groups and demanded deployment of Rangers at their colleges, the minister said that Rangers could be called only in case of any crucial situation. Otherwise, he added, police were enough to ensure peace in colleges.

About the factors behind the recent spell of clashes, he said that though principals were clueless or they did not turn vocal about the reasons he personally felt that the clashes were part of a well-organized conspiracy to create disharmony and sectarian discord during Muharram.

He claimed that the provincial government was not in favour of student union activities in educational institutes of Sindh, but at the same time it wanted to accommodate their point of views as well while managing college affairs.