LAHORE, Oct 30: Contrary to claims by Chief Minister’s Special Assistant Pervaiz Rashid, the Government College University (GCU) administration did not get a first information report (FIR) quashed against its nine students on Thursday.

Mr Pervaiz after talking to GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Khalid Aftab on Wednesday said the FIR would be quashed as the provincial government did not consider the varsity’s action in right direction.

Chancellor of the Government College University (GCU) Salmaan Taseer also did not take any note of the FIR registered against nine Ravians for “terrorism”. Mr Taseer, who is Punjab governor, however, suspended from service a government high school’s teacher who thrashed his student.

The GCU got the FIR registered against nine students, of them two are in jail and others on the run, for protesting expulsion of some of students.

The two arrested Ravians, Haroon Mahmood and Usman Lateef, charged with Section 7-Anti Terrorism Act besides other charges, spent the night at District Camp Jail.

GCU Registrar Sahibzada Faisal Khurshid said the university had not moved any application for the withdrawal of the FIR.

“I simply reported to the police that some varsity students with some outsiders had blocked the road and it should take an appropriate action,” he said.

The registrar stated in his application that “the nine students were duly identified from their badges, which they were bearing at the time of this illegal activity. The university security in charge, Muhammad Fazil, and Chief Proctor Muhammad Farooq also identified them accordingly.

“The unruly crowed created ‘threatening environment’ and also disrupted the traffic flow. It is requested that an appropriate action may be taken so that such practices stopped in future and the culprits are brought to justice.”

Also, police officials remained undecided about the pursuance of the case against the GCU students. A senior police official told Dawn that the FIR had yet to be quashed, while the police were trying to remove the Section 7-ATA from the FIR.

SSP (operations) Chaudhry Shafiq Ahmad said the Section 7ATA had been included in the offence list “mistakenly”.

Capital City Police Officer Pervaiz Rathore said police had not arrested more students as there was a status quo with regard to the FIR. He said the complainant (GCU registrar) could withdraw the FIR.

Also, Pakistan Muslim League-N MPA Rana Muhammad Arshad addressed a news conference and announced that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had got the FIR quashed. He spent a good time in praising the chief minister for his action. However, after some time, he clarified on phone that he had made the announcement on the confirmation of a minister, which actually did not materialise.

The two arrested Ravians’ fathers -- Hasan Mahmood and Muhammad Lateef -- also faced a nerve testing experience when they went to the Camp Jail to meet their wards. They said their sons had spent the night along with other prisoners. — Mansoor Malik