- Raid sparks strong reaction from students, PU academic staff association
Two professors of the Punjab University (PU) and a student were arrested Monday over their alleged links with the banned outfit Hizbut Tahrir, sparking a strong reaction from students and the university’s academic staff association.
The nabbed teachers were identified as Amir Saeed and Umar Nawaz.
According to officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), one of them was arrested from hostel number one, while the other was rounded up from the Institute of Administrative Sciences. The student detained in the raid from the PU Law College was identified as Waqas, added the officials. The detainees have been shifted to an undisclosed location for further interrogation.
The fresh arrests came a few days after a CTD team apprehended Ghalib Ata, an assistant professor at the Punjab University’s Institute of Administrative Sciences, from Allama Iqbal Town.
Monday’s raid sparked a strong protest from a group of students who demanded the government and management immediate release of the detainees.
In a statement issued on Monday, the PU Academic Staff Association expressed concern over the arrest of the teachers without any prior intimation to the administration.
PU ASA President Prof Dr Hasan Mobeen Alam, vice presidents Prof Dr Abid Hussain Chaudhry and Dr Faheem Aftab said that there were serious reservations among the university teachers over the arrest of Prof Umar Nawaz and Prof Dr Amir Saeed.
They said that such a humiliating action against the teachers on the basis of doubt was inhumane and immoral. They said that the teachers were armless and if any sensitive agency had doubted any teacher, they could have simply summoned them. They said th PU teachers were ready to comply with their instructions to join any investigation.
“Any suspected teacher can voluntarily cooperate with sensitive agencies but this is not the way to behave with teachers,” they added in the statement.
The PU ASA has also summoned an emergency meeting of its general body on Tuesday (today) at 11:30 am at the auditorium of Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology.
The association further said that the raid should not have been carried out without informing the administration, adding that terrorists could also use the same tactics that would make difficulties for the PU security staff.