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Case registered against senior UoP official for beating street children

By Yousaf Ali
March 25, 2019

PESHAWAR: A case was registered against a senior University of Peshawar (UoP) official on the directives of the newly-established Child Protection Court after a video went viral on the social media in which he is seen beating and abusing a number of street children.

"We have registered the case on the directives of the court and started an investigation," an official of the campus police told The News. The incident that triggered widespread condemnation forced the university administration to seek an explanation from the official.

"The university has taken notice of the incident and the official concerned has been asked to submit a written explanation as to why he went to the extent of beating the children," a spokesman for the university told The News.

Gohar Rahman, deputy director administration of the university, is seen beating children in the front lawn of his office in the university. Reached for comments, Gohar Rahman, said, "My intentions were good. But some elements conspired and used the incident against me tactfully."

He was of the opinion that the children were involved in begging. "They also harass students, especially girls," he said, adding, the university had launched a crackdown against them.

The street children and some typical issues attached to them is not a new phenomenon in the university. These children come from the nearby slums and refugee camps and manage to enter the heavily fortified gated campus, which houses several universities, schools, colleges and professional institutions. The university has been unable so far to take concrete measure to rehabilitate these children or at least stop their entry into the campus.

Intermittent beating, crackdowns and other coercive measures are not an appropriate solution to the matter, said another senior official of the university. The official, who has served in the administration for a long time, said that these children mostly Afghans were involved in a number of objectionable practices.

In order to ensure their entry into the campus, they even bribe the university's security personnel. They have sympathisers among the students, who help them earn a good amount of money every day, he said.

"You would be astonished to know that they even pay a share of their earning to the students, who protect them against action by the university officials," he said. Despite all these problems, he said, he would never suggest that beating and keeping them in police lockup was the right manner to deal with them.

Asked about the total number of these children entering the university every day, he said that they would hardly be some 15 to 20. They can be seen having candies of bubble gums in their hands, which do not sell but use them as a tool for begging.

"Some of them would have sacks in their hands pretending to be scavengers. They can be seen in the busiest places at the university such as Madina Market, Student Teacher Centre (STC) and the academic blocks of the university," he added.

The university administration has, however, been unable to focus proper attention on these children and have an appropriate solution to the problem.

The university administration has not even collected an accurate data of these children as who they are, where exactly they come from, what is their families' condition and what is the total number of these children.

This issue needs to be properly addressed, said a senior academician. Proper data of the children should be collected and a viable solution worked out for overcoming the issue, he said. Coercive steps would deteriorate the situation, he feared.