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Student violence goes from bad to worse
Karachi, Oct 1: The student clashes that began on August 15 in the Sindh Medical
College (SMC) between the Punjabi Student Association (PSA) and the Islami
Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT), resulted in the deaths of two Jamiat and one PSA
activists. This initiated a trail of killings that continued well into the month
of September.
The climax came on the evening of September 13 when a
minibus (G-7) was targeted moments after it had picked some students from gate
number two (Staff Town gate) of the University of Karachi (KU). Eight people
were shot dead that day, which included five KU students, four of them the
activists of IJT and one from the Imamia Students Organisation (ISO). The
reason, as understood by the employees and students of the university, was the
stand-off between the All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) and IJT
activists on September 12 when IJT had organised Taleem-e-Baleghan on the
concluding day of the Students Week and APMSO came out to celebrate the 54th
birthday of Altaf Hussain and brought a camel on campus for slaughter. The chief
guest was Rauf Siddiqui, Sindh minister for culture accompanied by Town Nazim
Gulshan-e- Iqbal, Muhammad Wasay Jalil, both from MQM. During this event, there
was a brawl and, thus, the Minister and the town nazim had to go back, and there
were no celebrations.
There is a history of bad blood and clashes
between the APMSO and IJT, the latest has its roots from the incident in SMC
where IJT activists were gunned down supposedly by the PSA. The IJT discovered
on September 10 that, though its activists Farhan Butt and Hafiz Abdur Rehman
were beaten by Punjabi students, the gunshots were fired from the activists of
APMSO (who were hiding). They used the clash between the IJT and PSA to their
own supposed advantage.
The IJT is constantly accusing the Campus
Security Officer, Arman Ahmed, and his deputy of taking indirect part in the
attack on the IJT students on main University Road which is vehemently denied by
him. The IJT has also pointed fingers at Dr Noreen Aslam Shah, Director, Centre
of Excellence for Women Studies of acting in a manner that was not becoming of a
teacher. The KU Employees Welfare Society, a misnomer for employees union that
is dominated by the MQM sympathisers, has beaten the war drum against IJT by
demanding action against their activists who, according to the employees
association, had threatened them. It may be of interest to note that IJT has
demanded the expulsion of an employee of the campus security, who they allege to
be the person who directed the hit men to kill the students.
We talked to many students and teachers of the university to get their side of the
story. Most of the students were angry for missing their classes on the orders
of the IJT. They were surprised and expressed their dismay at the utter failure
of the university administration, especially the vice chancellor. "It seems that
the VC has no concern about for students and their future. He did nothing to
control the situation," said a final-year student of the department of
Sociology, who requested anonymity. "We hear that he is very busy in meetings.
He is busy with this or that delegation. But he has no time for the students of
his own university," came an angry outburst from another student of the
department of Mass Communication. "It looks like our vice chancellor needs some
greater tragedy so that he can rouse from his slumber," another student from the
department of Library and Information Science chipped in.
The teachers,
though not many, were disgusted with the situation. "It is surprising that more
than a week of teaching has been wasted, yet there is suffocating silence on the
part of the university administration. It seems as if it has nothing to do with
them. There is a "be merry" attitude being exhibited by them (the
administration) which is baffling," said a professor who was cautious enough to
request anonymity. Some teachers were angry with the students who acted in such
a 'non-student' manner, bringing the Rangers to the campus and allowing the
security staff to turn the university into a concentration camp. "It is so
disgusting. The university is full of Rangers who do nothing except lounge,
walk, sit and trample the campus with their boots," a senior professor from the
science faculty vented his anger. "By the way, who are guarding our borders?"
Another professor from the same faculty thought aloud. The News
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