A man was injured in a clash over a girl between activists of the People’s Students Federation (PSF) and a banned terrorist organisation called the Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) at the University of Karachi (KU) on Saturday, Pakistan Today has learnt.
According to reports, SMP men attacked PSF activists with iron rods and stones, injuring a PSF worker who was later shifted to a nearby private hospital. KU security personnel arrested an activist with a weapon for opening fire during the clash. Later, Rangers personnel deputed at the university took the suspect in their custody, but released him after a few hours.
KU security personnel said PSF has divided into two groups on sectarian bases, which have been resulting in frequent clashes between them. They said, “One of the groups has links with a banned organisation and their activists come to the university with weapons. We have submitted a report to the varsity administration in this regard, but no action has been taken so far.”
PSF activists said some “bad apples” are working in their organisation. “We want to remove these terrorists from our organisation as well as from the university,” a PSF worker said. Moreover, senior PSF member Basharat said, “Saturday’s clash occurred over a girl who doesn’t even study at KU. Some of the university students attacked one other over the girl and one of the students opened fire on the others.”
He claimed not a single PSF activist was involved in the clash. “The detained suspect was released by the Rangers on external pressure and now the KU administration is blaming the PSF for the incident,” he added.
Sources in the KU administration said SMP activists have been operating in the varsity for over a year and openly using weapons on campus. They said SMP is gaining power in the university and the administration is reluctant in taking action against them. Pakistan Today has already run a story about SMP’s activities at KU as well as published pictures of their wall-chalkings.
