DADU: A second-year student received a gunshot wound during a clash between two groups of the Sindh Peoples Students Federation (SPSF) while semester examinations were underway at the Sindh University on Sunday.
The embattled groups held negotiations at nearby Lal Shahbaz Hostel to settle their dispute but started attacking each other again. Two rooms of the hostel were set on fire by the unruly students causing extensive damage to everything present inside.
The trouble started when the rival groups engaged in a heated argument at Magsi Canteen, opposite the Arts Faculty Building. Someone from among them fired several shots and one of them hit a second-year student of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Azhar Shah, son of Irfan Shah. He was rushed to the emergency ward of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, (LUMHS), Jamshoro, and later referred to the orthopaedic ward of the Hyderabad Civil Hospital, where his condition was stated to be out of danger. According to doctors, Azhar Shah had received one bullet to his leg.
The violent incident spread fear and chaos among the students taking their paper in exam halls at the Arts Faculty and the Institute of Commerce & Management.
The charged student activists then proceeded to the Lal Shahbaz Hostel for negotiations to settle their dispute but again engaged in a heated altercation and then went on the rampage. They set two hostel rooms on fire, which destroyed the furniture, fixtures, windows and doors, besides the clothes and other belongings of the rooms’ allottees.
Firefighters rushed to the hostel and brought the blaze under control.
On the directives of SU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Mohammad Marri, the university’s Adviser on Students Affairs Dr Mohammad Younis Laghari, accompanied the injured student all the time from LUMHS to the Hyderabad Civil Hospital. He also met his parents at the hospital and assured the family of all possible help and support from the university administration.
VC Marri, taking notice of the incidents, directed the director of campus security to initiate legal action against those involved in the violence. He said such acts could not be tolerated at the campus, particularly during the ongoing examinations.
The VC said that no one would be allowed to disturb the peaceful academic environment. He said that weapon culture at the university would not be tolerated. He warned that strict action would be taken against all those involved in the incidents without any discrimination.
Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2026
