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BREAKING: secular Pashtun Nationalist use violence to promote Valentines Day
PESHAWAR: Tension escalated in the University of Peshawar on Monday when the activists of the Pakhun Students Federation (PkSF) torched six rooms of the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) members at the university hostels.*The students also resorted to firing, forcing the police to rush to the area, use teargas and aerial firing to control the situation. A student sustained minor injuries in the stampede that was caused by violence in the hostel. The police carried out search operation in the hostels and arrested six PkSF activists who were found involved in firing and torching the rooms.*The incident triggered protest as the IJT workers took to streets and blocked the main GT Road for several hours. They chanted slogans against the university administration and PkSF. The protest was led by the campus president of the IJT Shah Zaman Durrani and its university unit president Hafeezullah.*The incident prompted the management of all the institutions on the university campus, the chief capital city police, and the district administration to hold a joint meeting that continued for several hours to take stock of the situation.*The meeting decided to enforce Section 144 at the campus to avert further untoward incidents. The meeting also agreed to continue academic activities so that the time of majority of the students who had nothing to do with the violence isn’t wasted. The meeting decided to take strict action against all those involved in the violent activities on the campus irrespective of political affiliations.*The meeting was chaired by UoP vice-chancellor Prof Dr Rasul Jan and attended by vice-chancellor agriculture university Dr Zahoor Ahmad Swati, principal Khyber Medical College Dr Ejaz Hassan Khan, chief capital city police Ijaz Khan, deputy commissioner Peshawar Zaheerul Islam and the registrars and provosts of the universities.*It was interesting to note that majority of the participants blamed certain political parties for motivating the students to stage protests instead of calming them down. They were, however, reluctant to confess their own failure in maintaining peace on the campus.*The tension started between the two organisations on February 14 over celebration of ‘Valentine Day’ and ‘Haya Day’. The PkSF and IJT were celebrating the day in their own way. The IJT had arranged a walk in the name of ‘Haya Walk’ to promote modesty while the secular PkSF had organized a function to mark Valentine Day.*The two sides bumped into each other at the New Academic Block of the university where they became embroiled in a clash. The PkSF students allegedly opened fire at their rivals and injured an IJT activist. The police, however, managed to control the situation by using teargas and arresting some students. It also registered an FIR against seven PkSF workers for firing and injuring the student.*Later that evening the activists of IJT allegedly torched some rooms of PkSF members in the hostels. The university administration lodged an FIR charging the IJT activists for damaging university property.*On Monday, the PkSF activists raided the hostels and set the rooms of IJT workers on fire to avenge the torching of the rooms of their colleagues.*The two organisations held each other responsible for the incident. IJT was putting all the blame on the university administration, which according to them was protecting the PkSF activists. The PkSF leadership on the other hand held the provincial government responsible for the mess and accused it intervening in the university affairs.*Office-bearers of the two organisations were, however, not ready to admit their own violent actions. Hafeezullah of IJT said that majority of their members were at the Peshawar Press Club for a news conference at the time when the PkSF stormed their colleagues’ rooms. He demanded of the university administration to lodge FIR against all those involved in torching their rooms. He asked the government to take action against the biased administration of the University of Peshawar and ensure arrest of all those nominated in the FIR.*PkSF president Imtiaz Wazir had his own claims. Talking to The News, he alleged that the IJT workers had already raided the hostel and were creating disturbance there. “In order to save the university from the IJT ‘hooliganism’, they also went there. He said both sides engaged in cross firing and some rooms were torched.He alleged that the IJT was being patronized by the provincial government to destroy the peaceful environment of the university.
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