ISLAMABAD, May 1: Hundreds of students and teachers of the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) have condemned remarks passed by a cleric of Lal Masjid against the university’s girl students.

At a protest meeting held at the Physics Department auditorium on Monday, they slammed the statement, allegedly made by Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi on an “illegal” FM radio broadcast from the Lal Masjid, that QAU had become a ‘brothel’ and women associated with the institution were immoral.

The meeting also called attention to the Maulana’s invocation of violence when he said he would not consider it wrong if such women had acid thrown at their faces.

The meeting was organised by the students and faculty members of the physics, economics departments and women’s studies centre. The students were incensed by the fact that the Maulana was being allowed to continue holding the entire population of Islamabad hostage, says press release.

The speakers said refusal of the government to take action against the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa administration simply reflected the ongoing collaboration between the extremist religious forcers and the military and that this issue was being used to deflect attention from the serious crisis that the present regime was facing.

Some students on the occasion suggested that the cleric should be invited to QAU to clarify his views, but a majority of them disagreed with the idea and said they had no tolerance for an individual who believed he was above the law and could impose his morality on others.

The students and teachers through a unanimous resolution demanded that Maulana Abdul Aziz should be apprehended for issuing the irresponsible and provocative statement. It was decided that the students and teachers of the university would initiate a public protest if the posturing of the Maulana was allowed to continue unhindered.

The meeting closed with a commitment to follow up on the consensus developed with a view to redress the larger menace of religious obscurantism in society.