IJT activists rough up students,including females, for playing cricket together

Karachi
A skirmish which occurred at Karachi University on Wednesday evening was being misreported as a political clash, The News learnt on Thursday.
The university management explained that activists of the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) beat up a few young men and women who had been playing cricket together while waiting for their point to take them home to Gulshan-e-Hadeed, which leaves around 8:30pm every day.
Student adviser Ansar Rizvi while talking to The News said a group of students had been playing cricket when activists of the IJT arrived on the spot asked them to stop.
“A couple of boys who had been playing there with a few girls had an argument with IJT activists who then began beating them up. The girls might have tried to save their friends and they were also slapped around by the activists,” he said.
The matter was brought to the knowledge of the university administration by a student who had gone to the varsity clinic for first aid treatment. “He described what happened and also said that there were also three girls who had also been roughed up by IJT activists,” said Rizvi. “I rushed to the location with security adviser Dr Muhammad Zubair. The three girls were scared and crying but they said they were not physically hurt.”
He clarified that there was no involvement of the Punjabi Students Association and any reports circulating in the media were false.
“The students have to wait here after classes for their bus to take them home so they play cricket to pass the time,” he said.
Another official of the university disclosed on the condition of anonymity that IJT activists had already warned the students thrice. “The students had been warned three times by the IJT activists, saying that the next time they would be dealt with accordingly,” he said. “The boy must not have known he was arguing with IJT activists or he would have been careful.”
In the meantime, said Dr Rizvi, the four IJT activists were picked up by Rangers personnel deployed at the university. However, they were released a little while later.
“Though we haven’t had any clash between student wings of parties for at least a couple of years now, we do have to accommodate a bit of political pressure from both leaderships and student groups,” said the KU official on the condition of anonymity.
However, the information secretary for the IJT, Sajid Khan, claimed that three of their supporters had been injured in the skirmish and categorically denied the presence of any girl students during any the incident.
Meanwhile, the All Pakistan Muttahida Students’ Organisation (APMSO) staged a protest against the IJT on Thursday outside the Karachi Press Club.
APMSO finance secretary Ali Mustafa said the government should take serious notice of the issue and take the culprits to account. He said more than 75 percent students at the KU were girls and they should feel secure while moving around the campus. He said the attack by IJT activists sent out an extremely wrong message about the university environment.
The APMSO has announced another protest on Monday at the campus’s Silver Jubilee gate.
On the other hand, IJT information secretary Sajid Khan dismissed the claims of roughing up girls as baseless and said the activists would counter the allegations with their own media briefing at the Karachi Press Club to answer.