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Student protests shake PU administration-IJT nexus
Lahore, Nov 19, 2007: The recent anti-IJT demonstrations at Punjab University (PU) in which thousands of students took part has shaken the decades old PU administration-IJT nexus on campus, the PU insiders observed.
They believe that there is nothing new to expose about the PU-IJT nexus. Liberal circles, however, assume that the anti-IJT protests were unexpected. On November 14, they say, the PU students got an opportunity to vent their anger against IJT. IJT is the Islamist youth wing which has been imposing its views on the PU students for the last several decades.
Out of 25,000 PU students, about 4,000 students at the New Campus demonstrated against "IJT's hooliganism".
The protests started when IJT activists manhandled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan and handed him over to the police on November 14. Teachers, many of whom were IJT sympathisers, talking to the media termed it a "revolution" and an "eye opener".
Insiders maintain that teachers and other PU administration staffers had been recruited allegedly under JI's influence during General Ziaul Haq's era. Nowadays, these teachers and staffers are working on key positions. The strings of the PU-IJT nexus are pulled from Mansoora (JI headquarters) and the most significant evidence is the elected body of PU Academic Staff Association (PUASA). PUASA is a body of IJT sympathisers. During the PUASA's election campaign senior JI leaders visited PU teachers to get their support for the JI-backed candidates.
A senior teacher, who had served as an IJT activist in the past, has directed his department library to throw out news items criticising IJT and JI. On the second day of the protests, a senior Hailey College teacher and an IJT sympathiser started reciting the Quran to stop students from shouting anti-IJT slogans.
PU students and a large number of teachers are looking towards the Punjab government and PU Chancellor Khalid Maqbool for the removal of IJT from the campus.
Without breaking the PU-IJT nexus, they say, PU would remain in the hands of "intolerant Islamic hardliners" and the dream of enlightened moderation will never come true. They believe that appointing an impartial vice chancellor would help better the university's academic environment. Daily Times
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