LAHORE: A private university constituted a ‘high-level’ inquiry committee comprising senior faculty members and the management officers hours after a D. Pharmacy female student attempted suicide by jumping from the second floor of the varsity building here on Monday.
Fatima (21) was rushed to a local hospital with her both legs fractured badly and injuries to her other body parts.
The police inquiries so far suggested that she took the extreme step following the pressure of her family to continue her studies in D. Pharmacy while she found it a tough subject.
There were also reports that the student and her family had an heated argument on the same issue on Saturday last when she again raised the matter.
Reports suggest parents pressure over subject selection prompts her to jump from building; second incident in less than a month; university suspends on-campus classes
A police official told Dawn that Fatima had told one of her friends (F) that she was under immense pressure for studies in D Pharmacy and cited to her a previous incident of a male student of the same varsity who had opted for suicide.
The official said she chose the same place of the university block on Monday from where the boy had jumped and ended his life.
Following protests by varsity students, the management had fired a teacher whom the protesters had accused of admonishing him for low attendance.
However, the official said in the case of Fatima, it transpired that she was a brilliant student and had obtained outstanding marks in mid-term exams.
She had marked her 94 per cent attendance, he said adding that Fatima had earlier tried for admission to the Punjab University in the same subject but couldn’t qualify.
In her second attempt, she managed to get admission to the University of Lahore.
To a question, the official said the police called her friend (F) on her mobile phone when they found her missed call on Fatima’s cell phone.
She told the police that she had called Fatima soon after she got to know about the suicide attempt of a student.
She further told the police that Fatima had shared with her the matter of her suicide attempt some days back and she called her on Monday fearing that she might have done it today.
Lahore Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations Faisal Kamran told this reporter that the student hailed from Narowal, adding that her parents had been asked to come to Lahore.
He said according to the initial information collected so far, the student was talking to someone on the phone around half an hour before the incident, but no further details were available yet.
“She jumped during the call,” he said.
A first information report of the incident has not been filed so far. The DIG said it was up to the girl’s parents whether they wanted to file a complaint.
Meanwhile, the university decided to suspend its on-campus classes.
A notice issued by the registrar office said: “It is hereby notified for the information of all concerned that, in order to secure the campus buildings and ensure the safety and well-being of students, all on-campus teaching activities shall remain suspended.
“Accordingly, all classes scheduled today are called off and all academic activities will be shifted to online mode from Tuesday (Jan 6) until further orders,“ it added.
DIG Kamran told Dawn that police had talked to the university administration, which had decided to suspend on-campus classes.
He said the administration had conveyed to the police that they were also considering installing fences on every floor or deploying staff to ensure safety.
Around three weeks back, a 22-year-old Pharm-D student died after jumping from the fourth floor of the university building on Dec 19.
Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2026