LAHORE, Dec 7: The police search operation in the hostels of the Punjab University to flush out ‘illegal boarders’ appears to be an exercise in futility as neither the elements involved in firing incident (on the campus) have so far been arrested nor has a ‘single’ illegal boarder been found since its launch on Dec 4.

The varsity administration had asked the police to carry out a ‘thorough’ search operation in its hostels after an incident in which two students of the PU law college were injured during an armed clash between two student groups at the New Campus hostels on Dec 3.

A senior officer of Lahore Police told Dawn on Sunday that they could not succeed unless the varsity gave up ‘double standards’ and ‘sincerely’ cooperate with them.

The varsity did not bother to provide them with the names of those illegally occupying the hostels, he said, adding: “On our insistence it (PU administration) provided us with 12 names involved in the firing. And when they allowed the police operation, it was too late as none of the nominated accused or any other such element was there (in hostels and departments).”

He said the varsity didn’t seek the police help in black and white until a day after the firing incident. “The varsity administration must know that they (police) can’t act on verbal request.” Besides, he questioned as how could the operation succeed when the wardens of certain hostels forewarn the illegal boarders.

The officer further pointed out that the PU administration, in fact, didn’t want to launch a coordinated crackdown on the Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) as it wanted someone else to do the job.

After going through the law and order situation on the campus, the officer observed, it seemed to be a case of ‘setting a thief to catch a thief’. “There are elements in the PU administration which are backing the United Students Federation (USF) and the Insaaf Students Federation (ISF) to pitch them against the IJT while there are also those which are sympathetic to the Jamiat. Without the backing of the PU administration no one can even think of challenging the IJT stronghold,” he said.

He said the officers involved in the operation had already conveyed their concern to their superiors.

PU Registrar Prof Naeem Khan, however, claimed that the varsity had provided a list of 90 students plus those rusticated owing to anti-student activities to the capital city police officer. He denied the official patronage of the USF and the ISF to weaken the influence of the IJT on the campus.

“Actually we are providing a level playing-field to all the student wings to further improve the academic atmosphere on the campus, but we will not tolerate the gun-culture and the IJT must know that it can’t win the hearts of students through terror.”

Prof Naeem did not agree with the perception that the police search operation was a failure. “It is an ongoing thing and will resume after Eid holidays. The varsity administration has already provided the home addresses of the accused named in the FIR to the police and I hope they would be arrested soon.”

He also dismissed the reports that supporting the anti-IJT wings was the brainchild of Vice-Chancellor Mujahid Kamran.

A senior professor is of the view that Mr Kamran, on the one hand, wants to ‘please’ Governor Salmaan Taseer (the chancellor of the public varsities in the province) through police operation and, on the other, he does not want to ‘displease’ his ‘old pals’.