Al Qaeda operative IJT’s guest in Punjab University
While Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) might not have any official link with Al Qaeda or TTP, the party’s activists as well as those of its student wing do have a soft corner for terrorists. The arrest of an Al Qaeda handler from the room of an Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) activist in a Punjab University hostel is the latest example. An earlier example: the hosting of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, then the third in Al Qaeda hierarchy, who was arrested from the house of a women’s wing leader of the JI in Rawalpindi in 2002. Despite the Jamaat’s avowed penchant for democracy, a militant streak has always characterized the party and its affiliates. The JI founder had recommended pulling out the tongues of those who talked about socialism. The IJT gained notoriety for introducing weapons in educational institutions and using force against rival student organisations. It banned musical programs and tortured male students when found sitting with co-eds outside the class rooms. Among the more recent examples of intolerance was the manhandling of PTI chief Imran Khan by the IJT in Punjab University which he had dared to enter without their permission. With this extremist and intolerant mindset welcoming and sheltering operatives of terrorist networks comes naturally to the IJT.
What is beyond comprehension is the role of the University administration in the affair. The hostel superintendents, assistant superintendents and wardens, occupying 40 houses and 80 single accommodations, are supposed to ensure, among other things, that there are no illegal residents on the premises. In the present circumstances when the entire country is reeling under the impact of terrorist attacks, one had expected the university administration to be highly vigilant. The vice-chancellor was required to have taken a leading role in creating awareness and strengthening the security system. That a dangerous terrorist was being hosted by a resident without the knowledge of the administration indicates a serious dereliction of duty. A report in an Urdu daily claims that the university administration knew about the presence of the Al Qaeda operative in the hostel but decided to look the other way. Further that the vice-chancellor who was avowedly provided the information by the security agency declined to cooperate with it. The agency which was apprehensive of the highly dangerous individual giving it a slip, had therefore to make the arrest in the absence of the VC. As the report was not denied by the University management, it raises serious questions regarding the quality of the administration.
The Punjab University has 26 hostels occupied by thousands of resident students. With the type of criminal negligence shown by the administration in the present case, university hostels could turn into safe havens for terrorists, virtually a North Waziristan in the center of the sprawling Lahore. In fact, had the agencies not shown the alertness that they did, Lahore might have faced a catastrophic incident.