An activist of the Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) was killed and another injured when some unidentified assailants opened fire at them outside the Saifee Polytechnic College on Monday.
The victim was identified as Hafiz Muhammad Arif, a student of the Department of Mechanics.
IJT activists took the body of their dead colleague and the injured activist, Atif, to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Later the injured was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for treatment.
After the attack, a large number of students gathered outside the college and attacked a police van deployed outside the college with stones and stick. They also beat up the policemen present there.
Later, the police fired aerial gunshots to disperse them. They also arrested some IJT activists for attacking the police.
Quoting the college’s principal, Gulberg SP Tanvir Alam Odho told Pakistan Today that there was tension in the institute over a dispute between two student groups over the hoisting of a political party’s flags inside the premises of the college.
“The police have started investigating the case and the people responsible for the attack will be behind the bars as early as possible,” he added.
The IJT held the All-Pakistan Muttahida Student Organisation (APMSO) responsible for the attack. However, the APMSO rejected the claims and asserted that the student organisation has nothing to do with the incident.
IJT Information Secretary Sohaib claimed his group’s activists clashed with the APMSO over the hoisting of Muttahida Qaumi Movement flags inside the college. “IJT leaders had informed the college administration about this and requested the removal of flags. After a few hours passed, some unidentified men opened fie on IJT activists,” he added.
He said the enraged IJT activists attacked the police because of their negligence. “The police baton-charge IJT activists and arrested over two dozen of them,” he claimed.
APMSO Information Secretary Shabbir Ali Babar rejected the IJT’s claims and said both student organisations are operating in the college peacefully.
“The IJT has its hold in the morning shift while the APMSO has its hold in the evening shift. Both organisations have no dispute with each other,” he added.
He said the APMSO condemns the killing of the IJT activist and demands the arrest of the killers. “The APMSO is against any type of political wall-chalking and hoisting of political parties’ flags inside any academic institution,” he added.
Babar said a few days back, the IJT clashed with the Pakhtun Students Federation at the University of Karachi, the Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology and the Dawood College of Engineering and Technology and also with the APMSO last week but that matter was settled. “It might be that a third party took advantage of the situation,” he suggested.
Later, the IJT held a press conference and demanded that the government should arrest the killers of their activist and provide protection to students at educational institutions.
IJT activist gunned down, another hurt outside college
