LAHORE, Sept 17: Officials of an intelligence agency reportedly continued raids in different parts of the city, including an educational institution, on the pointation of three terror suspects arrested from the Punjab University. They arrested two persons on suspicion of having links with Al Qaeda on Tuesday.

On Sept 3, officials during a raid at a Punjab University New Campus hostel had taken former student Ahmad Sajjad and an outsider identified as Farooq, who is said to be linked with Al Qaeda, into custody.

On their identification officials detained Shahzad Akbar, who is an MPhil student of Islamic Studies at the Shaikh Zayed Islamic Center, near the university on Sept 6, and later Qari Waqar in Township. Shahzad got two-year Taliban training.

Shahzad is the son of PU transport wing employee Haji Muhammad Akram who reported the disappearance of his son to the Muslim Town police.

Some news channels reported on Tuesday that an agency officials raided hostels of the University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore and picked up two terror suspects on the pointation of suspects arrested from the PU.

UET spokesman Tanveer Qasim denied the raid and arrests, saying media reports were completely baseless.

“The UET is working under exemplary discipline and all kinds of political and militant activities besides stay of outsiders is completely banned. We have our own proper security system and outsiders are not allowed to stay without any justification,” Qasim told Dawn.

A source in the PU confided to this reporter that officials had so far taken two PU students into custody on suspicion of their links with Al Qaeda.

He said it was established that three retired professors of the Institute of Education & Research, Pharmacy and Urdu, who all were members of the PU Tanzeem-i-Asatza, used to support anti-university elements. The source said sons of those teachers had taken part in Afghan jihad.

During a visit to the PU and Hostel No 1, it was established that the management enhanced checking of outsiders and disallowed even media to enter the hostel. The security staff was seen collecting CNICs from visitors at the hostel gate. A couple of students told this reporter that there was no fresh raid conducted by any agency including the police.

PU Vice-chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran told media that the terror suspect arrested in a university hostel stayed for three days and the room occupant was an IJT member. He said agencies seized jihadi literature, books, lists of telephone numbers of nazmeen and their donors.

He said 7,000 students had been staying in 26 hostels. He said up to 75 cases were got registered against miscreants and armed elements in the last three years or so but those who were arrested were got released on the intervention of unknown elements.

Dr Kamran said some armed people staying at Khalid Bin Waleed Hall of PU’s Old Campus would thrash hostel employees and could be involved in fire incidents reported in the hostels.

He said he wrote a letter to the sub-committee of the Punjab Cabinet for action against unscrupulous elements in the university upon which the law minister had directed the police to cooperate with the university management.

The VC said the administration would be able to clear the university from such elements if the law-enforcement agencies extended cooperation.

The Punjab University Academic Staff Association demanded that the chief minister and the governor take notice of the arrest of a suspected terrorist and help the university administration clear the hostels from “non-student elements”.

Prof Javed Sami, flanked by other members, told a news conference that the Islami Jamiat Tuleba (IJT) resisted each operation against such elements in the past. He said a suspected terrorist captured by agencies from the Hostel No 1 a few days ago lived in the room allotted to Ahmad Sajjad Rathore, who is the IJT nazim of Statistics Department.

Prof Sami said Sajjad remained involved in beating teachers and intimidating them and had faced two FIRs against him. He said agencies had seized seven cell phones, six SIMs, lists of contact numbers of IJT office-bearers, medical gloves and other material. He also presented a list of those individuals who financed the IJT activities.