LAHORE: A video showing Pakistan Awami Tehreek Secretary-General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur yelling at girl students of the Minhajul Quran University went viral on Friday afternoon, creating an embarrassing situation for the party.

Mr Gandapur is seen scolding students and threatening to throw them out. “We all know what kind of exploitation takes place in the private hostels,” he told the students.

In the end he can be seen warning one of students that she would be sent packing from the hostel the same night.

PAT spokesman Muhammad Noorullah tried to explain the situation and reasons behind Mr Gandapur’s outburst, claiming that the students living in a hostel run by the party on a no-profit no-loss basis attempted to leave the premises for an Iftar dinner without prior permission from the administration. They were stopped by the hostel administration but the students tried to force their way through, the spokesman added.

The hostel officials, he said, immediately brought the matter to the notice of Mr Gandapur who heads the administration and he ran into rude behaviour of the girls who insisted on going out.

He said Mr Gandapur tried to stop them and pleaded that their parents had restricted their leaving the hostel after 6pm. The students became rude and made Mr Gandapur lose his cool, claimed the spokesman.

He further said the hostel had nothing to do with the Minhajul Quran University as it’s run by the Idara Minhajul Quran for the deserving students.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2018