PESHAWAR, June 15: Harassment of girl students and incidents of eve-teasing are on the increase at the Peshawar University Campus as no protective measures have so far been taken by the university administration.

Girl students complain that a good number of their male counterparts have made it a practice to chase girls on roads, throw letters at them from moving vehicles, while others attired in bright dresses with funny hairstyles pass cheap remarks. “It is becoming unbearable,” a girl student said.

The most unfortunate aspect is that while doing all this they sink to levels unbecoming of university students, she added.

Girl students say such incidents cause them mental stress. “These things make you feel insecure and helpless,” another student said.

Sadia, a student of Khyber College of Dentistry, thought the best way to avoid such incidents was to ignore teasers. “The more you show anger or annoyance, the more the boys enjoy it. So the best way is to pay no attention to them,” she remarked.

Huma Aman of the department of journalism and mass communication is particularly upset at cheap remarks passed by boys. “It causes mental tension,” she said.

With a few exception, most of the girl students believe that ignoring eve-teasers offers the best defence to ward off any potential embarrassment.

Some students say boys who indulge in such activities often take a girl’s annoyance as some sort of a response or overture to them.

Zeeshan, a student of the department of international relations, said for boys it was fun than anything else. “When friends get together they tease girls just for fun.”

There are students who believed that it was the girl who invited trouble by giving positive response. “This encourages boys into chasing and teasing her,” said Nadir of botany department.

Another student however, condemned all such activities. This, he said, was done by a few students which caused embarrassment to other fellow students.

Faizullah Jan, a staff member at the journalism department, blamed the social background of the students for this state of affair.

He was of the opinion that most students come from conservative rural background with little opportunity of interaction with women.

“For them, girl students coming to a university is fairly liberal and that’s why they take liberty with them,” he explained.

Irum Irshad of the department of clinical psychology dwelt at length on the causes of eve-teasing and the possible remedies available.

She argues that the students with weak social and economic background often indulge in such aimless activities.

“In the past, students used to give more attention to their studies, whereas now-a-days the situation is just the opposite,” she said.

She also held the media responsible, especially the electronic media, which, she maintains, by showing indecent movies gave some sort of temptation to the young boys to indulge in such activities.

Moreover, lack of proper grooming and failure to teach Islamic principles and values to young generation were other factors contributing to such a behaviour, she explained.

She was also critical of the way girl students attire themselves and was of the opinion that a properly dressed girl would comparatively be less vulnerable to such incidents.

A senior teacher, however, said it was largely due to the lack of healthy recreational activities and community development projects that prompted boys to indulge in such activities.

Most girl students believe that setting up a separate university for women was not a solution to their problems. “The problem is not a separate university for girl students. The problem is mentality and social upbringing of such male students,” Irum Irshad said.