ISLAMABAD, Oct 18: Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) is taking into consideration both external and internal factors to probe into the recent violence on the campus in which a student of the history department was killed, university sources told Dawn on Saturday.

The QAU, considered one of the best public-sector universities in the country, has been plagued by violence. In the last one year, four students, including a girl, were killed in violence-related incidents.

The university administration after the latest killing is completely lost, as it had taken a number of steps — hiring of private security guards, special security arrangements for boys hostels and setting up barricades at exit and entry points — to enhance security on the campus.

One lead the university officials are working on is the kerosene-filled jerrycans which the police had found from the bushes near the boys hostels, the sources said.

As the university is located close to the Diplomatic Enclave, some anti-state elements might have tried to capitalize on the ongoing students’ rivalry to create unrest in the capital, a senior university official told Dawn.

“This is the first time in the university’s history, we have found such clues whereby external hand cannot be ruled out in the sudden increase of violence on the campus,” he said.

Had the alleged culprits got some more time they would definitely have set on fire university buses, hostels and administration block etc. However, fortunately no such incident occurred, he added.

The official said the kind of automatic weapons which were used by the members of the Punjab and Pakhtoon councils was another indication of the fact that somebody other than the students was interested in creating unrest on the campus.

Another official was of the view that it was an obvious reflection of the society, where everyday scores of people were being killed sometimes in the name of religion and sometimes on the basis of ethnicity.

“I might be wrong, but I am just not disturbed over the recent killings in the university because this is what we are teaching our younger generation,” he said.

Dr Dushka Haider, chairperson of the history department who is also member of university’s disciplinary committee, told this reporter that the university had taken a number measures to strengthen its security after the latest killing.

Now onwards, allotment in boys hostels will be made on semester basis and a strict admission policy will be followed so that nobody is able to create problems in the hostels.

Likewise hostel messes will be closed, and only the main university cafeteria will be open for dining purposes, as the administration has the information that these were controlled by the students councils.

In response to a question, she said a heavy presence of police on the campus was necessary as under the present conditions anything could happen.

She said from Sunday, hostels had been opened for research students, and decision on MSc classes would be taken on Monday.

She also agreed that chances of retaliation from students’ side in response to university administration’s actions were very much there.

However, this time, “we will not let anybody spoil our university and those who do would be dealt with an iron hand, come what may”.

“We have also called as many as 16 students of both these councils who were involved in a brawl which later on led to the killing of a student for personal hearings and will not spare anybody if found guilty,” she added.