April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

LAHORE, April 10: Despite strong resistance from the Punjab University administration, the Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) organised a mushaira or poetry recital on the lawns outside a girls’ hostel on the New Campus on Thursday night. The administration, however, succeeded in barring the Insaaf Students Federation from holding news conference on campus.

The university administration initially tried to woo the right wing student group to stop the mushaira and later resorted to cut the power supply to the venue. However, the IJT brought private power generator and organised the mushaira, which was continuing till the filing of this report.

PU Students Adviser Dr Mujahid Ali Mansoori said that he along with Hall Council Chairman Prof Saeed Ahmad Nagra, RO-I Prof Bashir Ahmad and Physics Department Chairman Prof Shaukat Ali approached IJT activists and asked them to refrain from holding the mushaira.

He said the IJT activists, however, refused to stop the activity. Even though the university administration disconnected power supply to the mushaira venue, IJT activists arranged a power generator and went ahead with the recital.

Dr Mansoori said the IJT activists, who had been expelled or rusticated, were on the forefront and police were not cooperating with them.

When contacted, PU IJT Nazim Zahid Naveed said the Jamiat was not holding any illegal activity and the university should have not terminated power supply to the venue.

The university administration barred newly-formed Insaaf Students Federation (ISF) from holding a news conference on the lawns of the Institute of Communication Studies.

PU Students Adviser Dr Mujahid Ali Mansoori said that as soon as he learnt about the news conference, he convinced the ISF not to hold the media activity. He said according to a university Syndicate decision any student group's activity on campus without permission was illegal. He also said the IJT members had also called him to stop the ISF news conference, as it was illegal according to the university rules and regulations.

In a tit-for-tat move, ISF members also approached Dr Mansoori to stop the IJT mushaira as he had stopped their news conference.

"As the IJT pressure is being balanced by other student groups, a challenging situation is emerging for the university administration to ensure academic peace on the campus," he observed.