LAHORE: As many as 21 students were critically injured when two groups clashed on the new campus of the Punjab University on Tuesday after the Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) objected to a girl and boy sitting together.

A girl and a boy were sitting at a canteen outside the Gender Studies department when the IJT activists came there and asked them to leave.

The students belonged to the Punjabi Council, who called their group members sitting nearby and they first tried to stop the IJT activists from harassing the duo.

Both the student groups did not listen to each other and a clash erupted.

The students, who were armed with iron and wooden rods, clashed and eight of them suffered injuries. The injured were identified as Khayam, Aqib, Shahzaman, Muhammad Khan, Zubair, Faisal, Usman and Raza.

The injured were taken to nearby hospital for treatment. Mostly of the students suffered head injuries.

The university administration called police who managed dispersal of the students.

IJT spokesperson Ibrahim Shahid denied harassing any student and said the activists were conducting a study circle in the Gender Studies department when Punjabi Council members attacked them around 2pm.

He said the administration intervened and got the matter resolved. Later, the IJT activists were staging a rally when the Punjabi Council members attacked them.

He claimed that 15 of the IJT activists got injured and four to five of them were critical.

Punjabi Council Chairman Aqib Malik said the IJT activists approached their group members sitting outside the Gender Studies department and asked the girls to leave.

He said, “They were saying that the girls and boys are not allowed to sit together. One of our activists resisted and he was thrashed and beaten by the IJT.”

He said later they were going to the hostel when around 100 IJT activists approached them and started beating them with iron rods and daggers.

He said six of their activists got injured and three of them were critical after suffering head injury and one was stabbed in the chest and arm of another was fractured.

DIG Operations Dr Abid Khan directed the Iqbal Town Division SP to take measures and control the situation.

He said action would be taken against all the suspects involved in creating a law and order situation.

PU spokesperson Khurrum Shehzad said no one would be allowed to disturb the environment of the campus and disciplinary and legal action would be taken against the students involved in the clash.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2022