LAHORE: Police on Wednesday registered a case against 200 students of the Punjab University (PU) and arrested 22 of them a day after violence on campus.

Most of the arrested students belong to the Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT).

Police registered a case against 200 students under sections 353, 186, 147 and 148 of PPC after the state became complainant.

Admin calls off book fair, bans student events

At least 10 students were injured in the clash between a group organising a Pakhtun cultural event and activists of the IJT at the Punjab University on Tuesday. Reports suggested that the IJT wanted to stop the cultural show.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters on Wednesday that the clash between the two groups was not the result of ethnic friction but erupted over the issue of cultural show.

A day after (Wednesday), attendance in the varsity remained thin amid tense calm and the administration had suspended its bus service on all routes in the city to prevent possible ‘import’ of students from other institutions by the student group.

“It was a tense day on campus as students and teachers feared further clash between the two student groups,” an academic told Dawn. “Such incidents expose the PU administration’s weakness,” he said while urging it to decisively crack down on these groups and make the campus violence-free.

The Pakhtun students had announced a ‘peace march’ on the campus bridge but the varsity administration persuaded them to call it off. However, they held a sit-in outside the sociology department and demanded swift action against those involved in violence.

Meanwhile, the PU has banned all student functions on the campus and called off its annual book fair scheduled to begin on April 4. “We have banned all types of events the student groups organise. Only the PU administration will arrange events to avoid repeat of any incident in future. The hostel wardens have been directed to prepare the lists of illegal boarders,” PU Vice Chancellor Dr Zafar Moeen Nasir told Dawn.

He said the varsity would not tolerate violence and it had decided to rid the institution of the scourge of violence. Two committees had been constituted to probe the case and “we will expel all those students found guilty in the inquiry,” Prof Nasir said.

A source said the inquiry team had started identifying those involved in the violence. “A former PU IJT nazim has already been identified through a CCTV footage,” he said.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had taken notice of the incident and directed the higher education department to look into the matter.

Punjab Higher Education Minister Syed Raza Ali Gilani said strict action would be taken against those involved in violence and their backers in the administration.

Iqbal Town SP Rana Umer Farooq confirmed to Dawn that police had arrested 22 students of both groups.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2017