10 March 2005	Thursday	28 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, March 9: At least nine student activists were injured after two groups clashed at the University of Karachi on Wednesday.

In another development, according to sources, the Rangers deployed on the campus recovered batons, rods and blunt weapons from a Pajero near the administration block of the university, and detained at least two persons for some hours.

No official of the university was ready to speak on record about the problem, but mentioned that the university would remain open on Thursday as both sides had agreed to observe peace and avoid hostilities in the future.

The vice-chancellor and registrar of the university were reportedly out of the city. Giving a hazy detail, a senior teacher said the KU campus was gripped in tension during the day, following a clash which took place on a petty issue at the Computer Science Department on Tuesday evening.

Though the security staff was alert since morning, activists of both the said groups managed to form two visible blocks on the campus on Wednesday, and resorted to chanting slogans occasionally.

The situation diluted for a while in the afternoon when some teachers, believed to have influence on the groups, intervened and forced the alleged disconcerting students to sit for a dialogue.

After reaching a consensus that they would remain peaceful and not create any law and order situation, the students from both sides hugged each other in the presence of some administrative officials and senior teachers. However, around 6.10pm, another fuss was repeated at the Computer Science Department, and about nine students were injured due to the rowdiness on Wednesday.

Seven of these students were rushed to the Rangers centre on the campus for firsthand treatment. There was no major injury, but there were cases of bone fractures and cuts, and that was why only a couple of them were sent to nearest hospitals.

It is likely that another round of negotiations and soothing measures would be initiated on Thursday when the VC would also be available on the campus, said a source. Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club late Wednesday night, office bearers of the All Pakistan Mohair Students Organization (APMSO) claimed that like Tuesday, the activists of the Islamic Jamiat Talaba (IJT) attacked their supporters at the Computer Science Department without any provocation on Wednesday too.

"Six of our workers were harshly beaten and injured at the department, which should not go unnoticed," said Tahir Yousuf, Nabeel Hussain and Adnan Ahmad, the office bearers of the APMSO, adding that their group believed in peace and supremacy of academics in educational institutions, but the IJT was not ready to come out accordingly.

They said the government should order the arrest of the IJT workers involved in torturing the APMSO workers, and punish them. One of the speakers said that the activists of IJT were given shelter at some teacher's quarters, which was highly deplorable.

The office bearers of the Islami Jamiat Talaba, however, gave an opposite account and claimed that after arrest of their armed activists, the APMSO group attacked their colleagues at the Computer Science Department, where at least eight workers were badly injured. The injured were taken to the Ibn-i-Sina Hospital, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, where the government-sponsored students wing allegedly opened fire, they added.

A number of our workers have been picked up from different places outside the campus in the night, and tortured. The seriously injured workers of the IJT have been admitted to two hospitals, said an IJT press release, claiming that APMSO's armed workers were given a free hand within and outside the campus on Wednesday.

In a statement, the IJT office bearer, Toufiquddin, condemned the incidents and demanded of the army corps commander to take action against the armed elements of APMSO.