At KU, female students retaliate to IJT moral brigade with greater force

Karachi
Having silently suffered because of the society’s suppressive values, the female students of the University of Karachi, in a rare incident of courage, gathered outside its administration block on Monday to play a cricket match as a show of defiance against the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba’s moral policing there.
The event, however, was later marred by chaos as a clash erupted between reporters who had gathered to cover the protest and the varsity’s security guards.
Last week, male and female students playing cricket were attacked by IJT activist. Three girls and a boy were reportedly injured.
Even though many similar incidents are frequently reported at campuses where the IJT - the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami - is present, female students protesting against its highhandedness in such great numbers was, however, an unparalleled occurrence.
Claiming to have organised the protest, Anam Sharif, the university unit sector organiser of the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation – the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s student wing – said many female students studying at the varsity needed to be given a sense of protection.
The organiser sternly added that IJT activists were neither the guardians of the female students at the university, nor would their attempts to moral police them be tolerated.
“If they are really protecting Islam’s teachings, then they should have known that our religion does not allow beating up women. These pseudo protectors of Islam should also have known that physical activities have always been encouraged in our religion.”
Huzaifa, a spokesperson for the IJT, acknowledging that the incident had actually occurred, however, maintained that the issue was hyped up through the social media. He claimed that no medical reports had so far been submitted by any female student, neither had any of the students been identified.
Whereas, according to Anam, the parents of the girls had not sent them to the university after the incident had occurred out of fear.
The IJT spokesperson said if his organisation had opposed women participating in sports, it would not have arranged such events for them.
“We organised the Summer Olympics at the university wherein women not only played cricket, but also participated in a badminton tournament and athletics. We also organised industrial visits for students and female students had accompanied us.”
He said only two people were injured of which one belonged to the IJT while the other was a member of the Punjabi Students Association.