LAHORE: At least 10 students were injured in a clash between students organising a Pakhtun cultural event and activists of the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT) at Punjab University on Tuesday, officials said.

The severity of the clash could be gauged from the intervention of a heavy contingent of police who fired tear gas shells to disperse the violent students.

While Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah blamed the IJT for trying to halt the cultural show, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Samia Raheel Qazi alleged that the Pakhtun students disrupted the IJT event by “disgracing the women present there”.

Following the incident, PU Vice Chancellor Dr Zafar Moeen Nasir, who held the IJT responsible for attacking the Pakhtun festival first, directed police authorities to launch an operation to remove those responsible for disrupting the varsity’s academic environment.

The IJT and the Pakhtun Council organised their separate programmes on the campus on Tuesday.

Officials and witnesses said that the Pakhtun cultural festival began in the morning and was scheduled to end by 5pm, but it had clashed with the IJT’s commemorative Pakistan Day event.

A clash erupted in front of the Faisal auditorium after Punjab Higher Education Minister Syed Raza Ali Gillani, the chief guest at the cultural event, left. The IJT members allegedly attacked Pakhtun and Baloch students with clubs, injuring at least 10 of them.

The policemen present at the scene called in additional units to help stop the clash. They managed to disperse the quarrelling students by firing tear gas shells.

“The Pakhtun cultural day event was [in progress] peacefully and a [large] number of male and female students were present there. As soon as I entered the hall in the IER department, after offering the Zohar prayer, several IJT students gathered there and started beating us without any reason,” said Hairdin Bugti, a second-year student at PU’s electrical engineering department. “We had organised the festival after [receiving] permission from the PU administration, while the IJT students had not obtained permission to organise their event,” he added.

The IJT activists also pelted the Pakhtun and Baloch students with stones, after which the students organising the cultural event brought out their own sticks and clubs.

The IJT, however, claimed that the Pakhtun students had attacked their rally first. They claimed that they were attacked while holding a rally to mobilise for their “mega event” to be held on March 23.

“They [Pakhtun and Baloch students] entered the hall where Jamaat-i-Islami leader Samia Raheel Qazi, the chief guest, was discussing the Azm-i-Pakistan mega event with female students. They thrashed female students...this forced us to react,” IJT spokesperson Taimur Khan told Dawn. “The Pakhtun students broke our sound system and set it on fire.”

VC promises final push against violence

However, VC Dr Nasir confirmed that the IJT students were the first to attack. He said they had established that the IJT students had attacked participants of the Pakhtun cultural festival first.

He said an indiscriminate action would be taken against those involved in the incident. He said the time had come to weed out those responsible for disrupting the academic activities of thousands of students on the campus.

“I have asked the police to take extreme measures to rid the varsity of such students. We have also decided to expel such students in the future,” he added. “You will see what happens...we are ready to take a final and forceful action against such elements very soon,” he pledged.

Meanwhile, Rana Sanaullah told a private news channel that the cultural show was being held with the PU administration’s permission, but the IJT had issues with the activity being held. “Therefore, they tried to halt the proceedings. Measures are being taken to make sure that the students involved in the disruption are held accountable,” he said.

However, JI leader Samia Raheel told a press conference that she saw Pakhtun students attacking the JI / IJT women/students at PU. Terming it “really a bad act that must be discouraged at all levels”, she demanded the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister order a thorough investigation into the issue.

Probe body formed

The provincial minister for higher education has constituted a committee to investigate the clash.

“The committee will be headed by Vice Chancellor Dr Nasir and will comprise the students affairs director, the hall council chairperson, the Iqbal Town SP, the resident officer, the Muslim Town SHO and two student representatives from each student body. The committee will give its recommendations in 10 days,” said a PU spokesperson.

Iqbal Town SP Rana Umar Farooq said that a case would be registered after completion of the inquiry.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2017