KARACHI, Feb 16: As heavy deployment of security forces was made outside the educational institutions in Saddar on Wednesday morning to prevent further student clashes , the trouble spread over to the colleges in Gulshan-i-Iqbal leaving several students of IJT and APMSO wounded.
Following the violence in Gulshan Town on Wednesday, two FIRs were lodged at separate police stations. Members of the IJT lodged an FIR against the AMPSO at Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station while the APMSO members lodged an FIR against their rivals at Mubina town police station, TPO Gulshan Asif Ajaz told Dawn.
Among several others who were injured during the clashes, an activist of the IJT suffered a bullet wound at Jauhar Degree College. He was shifted to the JPMC's ICU. TPO Gulshan also confirmed the incident saying that Asad Ansari had suffered a bullet wound in the clash.
Police said that the trouble started late Tuesday night when an activist of the IJT, Adnan Shaikh, was picked up from his home in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Though he was released about an hour later, he was subjected to manhandling, police added. In the meantime, an activist of APMSO was beaten up by their rivals at Gulshan College in Block-7. The IJT activists also set his motorcycle on fire before fleeing, they said.
According to the police, the trouble spread to the degree college located near Shaikh Zayed Centre, Karachi University, where members of both the student groups clashed with each other.
The members of IJT, who were wounded during clashes on Wednesday, were taken to the JPMC while those of APMSO were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Gulshan Town Police Officer SP Asif Ajaz told Dawn that though police deployment had been made at Imambargahs and mosques in view of the Muharram arrangements, police reached the troubled spots near colleges and controlled the situation.
He claimed that police wasted no time and registered FIRs following the incidents of violence at the two colleges. He said that security had been beefed up at the Urdu university, Sir Syed varsity and other educational institutes in the town as a preventive step.