LAHORE – Under the directions of Adviser to Punjab University (PU) Vice Chancellor Col (r) Ikram Ullah and PU Chief Security Officer (CSO) Major Arif, the varsity’s security guards with the help of the Punjab Police roughed up students, both male and female, on Wednesday.
FEMALES TORTURED: Female students were seen crying and invoking Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Chief Justice Lahore High Court, demanding PU VC Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran and Ikram Ullah’s termination, after the varsity’s security guards and the police manhandled them. Distressed by the torture, some female students also tried to commit suicide, after they lost their ‘dupattas’ at the hands of the security personnel.
MEDIA BARRED: Ikram Ullah also closed down PU’s gates, barring media entry, and called for reserved force to handle Institute of Mycology and Plant Pathology (IMPP) female students, who were protesting on the issue of their degrees.
TEACHERS CONDEMN: PU Teachers community condemned students’ manhandling and said that VC had hired the services of a retired colonel to get an extension from Punjab CM and by torturing students he had converted the varsity into to an ‘army garrison’. They said torture on students not only marred the varsity’s image but Punjab Government’s repute as well. They demanded the CM to terminate PU VC and his advisor else PU teachers and students will launch an anti VC campaign in the varsity.
ARMY-FREE VARSITY: Scores of IPP students had gathered in front of the VC’s office to press their demands. They were chanting slogans against the vice chancellor for not accepting their demands of an ‘army-free varsity’, condemning Ikram Ullah and Major Arif.
ALLEGEDLY PLANNED TORTURE: According to PU sources Ikram Ullah and Major Arif were given a task to ‘teach a lesson’ to IMPP students, and they had appointed special guards on varsity’s entry gates to stop the media to enter at PU. When students arrived in front of the VC office, following the instructions of Major Arif, security guards and police personnel attacked on the female students. According to a police official, varsity had not only called for Muslim Town Police but had called for reserved force to beat students.
SUICIDE ATTEMPTS: Meanwhile, students sprayed petrol on their bodies and tried to burn themselves as a protest against the treatment meted out to them by varsity administration, playing with their future. A burnt student, Wajid Hussain, was furious the way the university security manhandled the students. IMPP students chanted slogans against PU VC and Colonel Ikram Ullah.
Around eight male and female students attempted suicide in protest against non-acceptance of their demands. The students were intercepted by the police and provided first aid by Rescue 1122.
LONG-STANDING DEMANDS: IMPP students have been protesting for the last nine months as their degrees were not recognised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and were rejected by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). The students had been demanding the change in the nomenclature of the institute from IMPP to Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS) as for the requirement of HEC and PPSC and other public and private agricultural organisations.
The students were also demanding appointment of a permanent director in the institute with a degree in agriculture, transfer of former IMPP in-charge Dr Ghazala Nasim from the institute and the appointment of 10 permanent agriculturists. The students were still protesting and staged a sit-in outside the VC office and they said that now they will protest in front of Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
Condemnation: Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association’s (FAPUASA) and Punjab University Academic Staff Associations (PUASA) President Dr Maher Muhammad Saeed Akhter condemned female students’ manhandling at PU. Dr Maher said it was ‘shameful’ that females were tortured by the police personnel and security guards.
He said tortured students only wanted to see the VC, which was their right. He said PU administrations should avoid such acts in future.
