ISLAMABAD: A three-member committee formed by the International Islamic University (IIUI) is inquiring into the recent incident of acid being thrown at one of its faculty member’s cars.

On March 14, acid was thrown on the car of Assistant Professor at the Physics department Dr Mumtaz, who was not in his car when the incident happened.

According to a source, one side of the car and its rear has been damaged which also caused fear among the faculty members. Soon after the incident, the university formed a three-member committee to inquire into the matter, said IIUI spokesperson Abid Masood.

“The committee will be finalising its report in the next few days,” he said, adding that he could not say anything about who was involved in the incident.

A source at the university said that there was an ongoing struggle for taking control of one of the science laboratories in the physics department and that someone may have been conveying a message to Dr Mumtaz.

Until a few months ago, the lab was controlled by a faculty member who joined the Quaid-i-Azam University recently, he said, adding that a tug of war for the lab started after the faculty member left.

However, when asked, Dr Mumtaz said he had a separate lab and that he has never shown interest in gaining control of the lab in question.

“I don’t have personal enmity with anyone and do not know who threw acid on my car,” he said.

The professor said his car was parked in the range of the campus’ CCTV cameras and that at the time of the incident, the direction of the camera had been “mysteriously” changed which he said is suspicious and leads to a lot of doubts.

When asked, Dr Mumtaz said he had reported the matter to the police and had filed an application as well. However, other than paying him a visit, the police had so far made no efforts to find out who threw acid on his car.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2016