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Medical college asked to enforce burqa 'order'
PESHAWAR, May 11(Dawn): Anonymous callers have given the administration of the
Khyber Medical College a three-week deadline to let students wear burqa on its
premises, and warned of dire consequences, including suicide bombings, if the
warning is not heeded.
Sources said that officials had received several
telephone calls, asking them to strictly enforce burqa in the college and also
called for complete segregation besides imposing a complete ban on intermingling
of males and females.
The callers also asked girl students to migrate
from the Khyber Medical College to the Khyber Girls Medical College in Hayatabad
Township to complete their education in a male-free atmosphere.
Sources
in the college administration said that they had also been warned of making
separate teaching arrangements.
"One letter said that 'obscenity' in the
college had 'crossed all limits', necessitating urgent action on the part of the
administration," a college source said.
If the college took no action
within three weeks, they (the local Taliban) would be left with no option but to
bomb the college, the source quoted the letter as saying.
Suicide bombing
had also been threatened if their demand was not met, the sources
said.
Girl students felt extremely harassed, a college official said,
adding that most of the parents were worried about the situation and they were
considering sending their daughters to the Khyber Girls Medical
College.
However, college Principal Prof Dr Fazal Ahmad said that he was
not aware of any Taliban letter or telephone call.
He, however, said that
similar threats had been received by some Peshawar University departments a few
days ago.
Meanwhile, cassette and CD-sellers in the main market have also
received anonymous letters, asking them to wind up their 'evil' business and
start some other business in accordance with Islamic injunctions.
"The
one-page Urdu-language pamphlet was distributed in the market. It has warned
shopkeepers of suicide bombings if they did not wind up their business within a
week," said Sher Dil Khan, President of the Tele-film Makers'
Association.
The pamphlet stressed that CD-selling could be tolerated if
CDs contained information about jihad and Islam.
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