LAHORE: Abdul Manan, a journalist who was tortured in the Punjab University, said Muslim Town Police have registered a case against Rana Qurban and Law College students who tortured and tried to kidnap him but the PU administration and Director Public Relation Khawaja Tahir was avoiding taking disciplinary action against them.
Journalists on Sunday said they will protest today (Monday) at the varsity against PU administration for not taking disciplinary action against ten students of PU Law College who tortured Manan on the call of PU Law College’s evening class’s student Rana Qurban, who is also an agricultural officer in the Punjab Forestry Department.
PU Law College Principal Sami Uzair Khan promised but did not take any action against Qurban. Manan told Pakistan Today that even PU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Mujahid Kamran did not inquire him about the matter. He said PU DPR Khawaja Tahir’s behavior was not cooperating and it seemed that he wanted to protect the accused. He said Tahir invited him for a press conference at the PU Institute of Quality and Technical Management (IQTM).
He said PU Law College’s principal and RO Javid Sami knew about the incident but were silent. Journalists said that they will boycott the coverage of a conference at IQTM and requested that PU VC should investigate why a disciplinary action was not being taken against the culprits.
PU DPR Khawaja Tahir said legal requirements had to be met and he had asked Manan to submit a written application in this regard. PU Disciplinary committee takes actions against such acts at the varsity and according to a varsity official, the minimum punishment for torturing and abducting a journalist was expulsion.
He said more than one hundred Islami Jamiat e Taliba activists were expelled by this committee on raising their voice against the administration’s corruption. PU sources said that PU VC knew about the case but PU DPR and some Law College officials were protecting the accused and were attempting to create a misunderstanding between the press and PU VC.
PU admin hesitates taking journalist’s attackers to task
