LAHORE: After the Beaconhouse School System, the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has also come under threat from the extremist elements.
A message, circulating on social media and SMS, warns the management of LUMS that a campaign will be launched against the varsity for its supposed ‘anti-Islam’ activities.
The warning message, which is making the rounds in social media, mentions a recent extracurricular visit by students of LUMS to the city of Rabwah, the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya community, as the reason for the threat.
According to the details, LUMS Assistant Professor of Political Science Taimur Rehman took one of his classes to Rabwah and to interact with the Ahmadiyya community in a bid to know the persecuted community better.
“In an environment where religious groups are spreading hate against the persecuted Ahmadiyya community, me and my students decided to go to Rabwah to express solidarity with the community” explained Prof Rehman in response to the criticism on social media.
The trip involved students interacting with the residents of Rabwah and trying to get to know and understand the community, their beliefs and problems.
However, after the local news agency of the town ‘Rabwah Times’ reported the incident, a great hue and cry was made with a number of people saying that the visit was a conspiracy meant to mainstream the Ahmadiyya movement.
This was followed by the circulation of threats against Prof Rehman, his students, and the LUMS administration.
Messages like “What is the LUMS teaching its students? Is this not the anti-Islam agenda of this university?” and “If LUMS does not respond, we will launch a campaign against them just like we launched a campaign against Beacon House” were circulated on various social networking platforms.
Earlier, Beaconhouse School System had also come under fire in a campaign led by self-proclaimed defence analyst Zaid Hamid, who had attacked the school for printing a question paper, asking the reasons behind the Pakistan Army’s loss in the 1971 war.