June 03, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 2: Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) administration has suspended the principal and a teacher of a nursing school along with seven students for committing violation of rules and regulations on Friday night, sources told Dawn.

However, Pims Executive Director Dr Fazle Hadi claimed that the administration had suspended five Muslim and Christian students besides the principal and a teacher.

He said an FIR had been lodged with Margalla police station against unidentified people who allegedly desecrated verses of ‘Bismillah’ and Dua for eating and drinking fixed on the notice board of a classroom.

An inquiry into the incident is being conducted by Prof Anwarul Haq, however, the suspension of seven people had been carried out for their alleged violation of rules, he added.

The executive director said the students of Jamia Hafza, who came to the school on Friday, claimed that they were informed about the incident by two Muslims students who asked them to visit the school.

However, one of the students was not present at that time while the other denied Jamia Hafza students’ claim, he added.

On the other hand, the college principal, Stella Lazir, told Dawn that the administration suspended 10 people, including sven Christian students, without having any prove against them about the violation.

She said the inquiry into the incident was still under progress and the move to suspend the students, a teacher and principal was illegal.

She said about 75 per cent of the students were Muslims and there was a strong possibility that ‘outsiders’ were involved in the incident.

The suspended principal said the desecration of holy verses occurred on May 17 during her absence as she was on holiday from May 14 to 23.

The administration and the acting principal, Irshad Begum, overlooked this issue probably because exams were being held in the school at that time, she added.

Ms Lazir said she was informed about the incident on May 27 and the next day she talked to the students about the issue.