FAISALABAD: Recent incidents of violence at the Government College University, Faisalabad, (GCUF) have scared students and their parents.

While the students consider the university administration negligent, its officials pin the blame on the police for ‘patronising’ the troublemakers.

City Police Officer Dr Haider Ashraf says the allegation is baseless as the university administration has never complained about abetment by any police official.

The GCUF has more than 28,000 students pursuing various disciplines. A team of 92 security guards has been employed to keep an eye on miscreants and other suspicious activities.

On June 18 last, Abdul Rehman, a student of BBA, was shot at by some students and their accomplices (outsiders) near the university.

Victim’s father Abdul Razzaq told Dawn that the incident had sent shivers down their spines and the family now reluctantly sent him to attend classes and remained anxious about his safety.

He said the university had ‘banned’ two suspects Humayun and Azeem.

GCUF Director Students Affairs (DSA) Nadeem Sohail said no action had been taken against any of the suspects because “all of them were outsiders.” He said the suspects were still at large.

On June 27, two armed groups of students first clashed on the campus and later exchanged fire outside the university. The incident had left four students injured.

Many students this correspondent talked to said the university environment was fast turning hostile as the administration had failed to rein in violence-prone students. They said the June 27 clash had created panic among students.

They alleged the university guards had failed to perform their duties and unnecessarily bothered the meek and pliant students. “Any outsider can enter the university with weapons,” a student said.

The students further alleged that most guards protected the rabble-rousers instead of rescuing those who had nothing to do with violence. They said the GCUF administration had turned a blind eye to the presence of several student groups despite ban on unions or allied activities. These students roamed around (on the campus) without varsity identity cards.

DSA Nadeem Sohail said the disciplinary committee penalised the students found involved in wrongdoings. He said most of the time clashes erupted outside the university and, therefore, it could not act against the students.

CPO Dr Haider Ashraf told Dawn that maintenance of law and order on the campus was the sole responsibility of the university administration but the police extended help whenever the institution asked for it.

He said a few months ago he had sent a proposal to the Punjab government to allow them to permanently detail policemen at the GCUF, Agriculture University, the Punjab Medical College and the National Textile University but it didn’t give nod.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2014