LAHORE/GUJRAT: The agitation over the alleged rape incident in Lahore also spread to several other cities of Punjab on Wednesday, where students of public as well as private institutes resorted to violence, claiming the life of a security guard in Gujrat district, and ransacking and torching different campuses of the private college at the centre of the issue.

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The protesters also clashed with the law enforcement agencies and were booked for damaging the Punjab Group of Colleges’ (PGCs) properties, while police also registered a murder case following the death of the security guard.

In Lahore, students gathered outside the Punjab College’s Campus 11, where they set fire to the parking area, shattered windows, and damaged doors.

The protesters, some of them carrying iron rods and clubs, stormed the college premises and caused widespread damage.

A similar protest took place on Burki Road, Lahore, where students blocked traffic, demanding action against the college administration for allegedly covering up the incident.

Social media played a key role in the mobilisation of protesters, as videos of the protests and ransacking of the PGC properties were shared across various platforms.

Many student organisations, including the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT), Red Workers Front, and Progressive Students Collective, also showed solidarity with the protesters.

In Gujrat, a security guard was killed and several students injured during the violent clashes in and outside of the PGC boys campus.

Reports said a group of violent protesters, including outsiders as well as the students of different public and private colleges again took out a protest rally and first went to the girls’ campus along Rehman Shaheed Road, where they barged into the campus.

They ransacked the campus and burnt the furniture, computers and record after which the same group attacked the boys’ campus and Punjab College at Kunjah.

Police said that at PGC boys’ campus near Gurali, a college security guard, Azhar Hussain (50) of Gondal Sharif, was killed during the violent attack by the protesters.

Gujrat Saddar police have registered a murder case against at least 185 people, including 35 nominated suspects, under sections 302, 452, 440, 506, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the report of Zawahar Abbas, son of the deceased security guard of the PGCs boys campus at Gurali.

Meanwhile, at least three students were injured, one of them critically, when their motorbike reportedly hit the median on the GT Road, while they were being chased by a police van.

Gujranwala Commissioner Naveed Haider Sheerazi along with the senior officials of local administration and police reached the hospital on Wednesday and inquired after the injured student.

Meanwhile, Lorry Adda police registered a case against the policemen, including the station house officer, of the same police station, under different sections on the complaint of the father of the seriously injured student. Violent mobs also emerged in other towns of Gujrat district — Lalamusa, Kharian and Jalalpur Jattan — where they damaged the PGC campuses and also looted valuables.

The colleges management alleged that all the violent incidents in Gujrat district occurred in the presence of police contingents, accusing the police of negligence. They alleged that the police refused to resist the violent protesters, saying they were not allowed to take action against them.

Lalamusa Saddar police registered a case against more than 250 people, 45 of them nominated, on the charges of damaging the PGCs campus and looting valuables worth around Rs15 million.

Similarly, Kharian Saddar police have also registered a case against 200 people, including 46 nominated suspects, for attacking the Kharian campus of PGC, under different sections of the PPC on the report of the college principal.

The PGC campuses in Mandi Bahauddin and Jhelum were also ransacked by protesters, who also set fire to the colleges’ property and looted valuables worth millions of rupees.

In a late-night crackdown on the suspects allegedly involved in violent protests and ransacking the PGC campuses, Gujrat police have arrested at least 92 persons across the district.

More raids are being conducted to arrest other suspects.

A senior administrative official said the students were “planted and politically motivated”.

He said a thorough probe would be launched into the matter to identify the people creating chaos in the city.

Meanwhile, Gujrat Deputy Commissioner Safdar Virk has ordered closure of all public and private colleges in the district until October 19 and also directed the management of colleges to vacate the hostels.

The PGCs has also issued a notification, suspending academic activities in all its campuses in the region till further directions.

According to an official of the colleges’ management, it may take several weeks to restore the academic activities at the campuses.

Meanwhile, a large number of students of different PGCs campuses took out a rally at Faisalabad in connection with the alleged rape incident in Lahore and torture of protesting students by police.

When the rally reached near Batala Colony police station on Satiana Road, police used tear gas to disperse the protesting students.

The Punjab College students also staged a protest demonstrations at Samundri, blocking the roads leading to the college for traffic.

Similarly, the students of local government boys’ degree colleges staged demonstrations at Shorkot and Jhang in front of the local chapters of the Punjab College.

They also blocked Shorkot Cantonment Road for traffic. However Shorkot Assistant Commissioner Mr Asfandyar arrived there and managed to restore the traffic on the road.

In Sargodha, students of the Punjab College, as well as those from other educational institutions staged a protest rally and demanded immediate arrest of the “culprits and their supporters”. The protesters staged a sit-in in front of a college and blocked roads for traffic for a couple of hours by setting old tyres on fire.

Tariq Saeed from Toba Tek Singh and Sajjad Abbas Niazi from Sargodha also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2024