LAHORE – The Township Police on Wednesday brutally tortured journalists and University of Education (UoE) students on protesting against termination of two varsity faculty members. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the torture and formed a committee to prove termination of UoE IT Director Anwarur Rehman Pasha and his wife Shaheen Pasha.
The torture took place at the Akbar Chowk, Township where police thrashed journalists and UoE students and also arrested some students on staging a protest. The UoE VC terminated Pasha and his wife on serious allegations of corruption. According to details, students launched a rally from the UoE campus at Township and reached Akbar Chowk and blocked the road.
Journalists were covering the event when police started beating them. Two journalists including private TV channel reporter Rizwan Nazir and Zaheer Abbas were seriously injured due to the torture. Police also thrashed students and locked them in the police station. Nazir and Abbas said that police also snatched their office cards and manhandled them.
Afterwards, students gathered at the Punjab Assembly (PA) and blocked the Mall Road and started a protest. The Punjab CM instructed Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and other MPAs to pursue the matter and asked them to form a committee in this regard.
The CM also instructed police to immediately release the arrested students. Rana Arshad told Pakistan Today that the law minister and the higher education department secretary are included in the committee and would visit the UoE today (Thursday) to sort out the matter. He condemned thrashing of students and journalists by police.
