IIUI girls push their IJT tormentor out
* Students stage sit-in for seven hours unless administration expels Abdullah
* VP Parveen Qadir Agha says the protesters will not be spared!
* IJT demands victimised girls be punished for entering ‘prohibited area’
By Mahtab Bashir
ISLAMABAD: Students of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) on Tuesday staged a seven-hour-long protest demonstration against torture and public humiliation of a female student from Faculty of Management Sciences (FMS) at the hands of Islami Jamiat Tuleba (IJT) unless the university administration expelled the main attacker, Abdullah.
IIUI administration has issued a notification to expel Abdullah, a student of Engineering Department, as well as considering an action against the protestors for raising their voice against the harassment.
According to sources, all departments of the university remained closed on Monday and Tuesday against the incident while bus service remained suspended.
On Saturday evening, a group of female students of FMS were taking snaps in the Engineering Block when Abdullah, accompanied by others, appeared to preach them against photography, declaring it haram. He then slapped and reportedly kicked a girl from the group and humiliated them.
Sources said that
it was not the first instance that Abdulah subjected a woman to humiliation; he had done it twice in the past - once he battered two female students in university’s library and then he beat a female teacher, while she was coming out of a seminar. The sources further said Abdullah’s repeated cruel acts were brought in the notice of IIUI administration but they did not pay heed to it, encouraging him to continue bashing women and subjecting them to humiliation through his hate sermons.
The protestors on Tuesday staged a sit-in in front of the university bus stop from 9:00 am till 3:00 pm. They were of the view that Abdullah must be taken to task by administration of university. They demanded that the university administration expel Abdullah.
They did not let the shuttle service to run in a peaceful manner. Girls, especially, braved rain that kept falling on and off all through the day. They took out their umbrellas but refused to leave the venue unless their tormentor is out.
It was a public information that Abdullah was a worker of the IJT but the party’s hold on the IIUI is so strong that Vice President Perveen Qadir Agha came to the protesting girls to tell them that Abdullah has no links with the IJT.
The sources said Agha was more interested in punishing the protesting students than Abdullah. The protesting students told Daily Times that Agha had noted down their names and threatened to expel them.
Agha, however, said that the protesting students did not comply with the rules and regulations of the university. She said Abdullah has already been debarred by university administration than why this protest was staged. She said all those students who participated in the protest would now be punished accordingly.
It was witnessed that the protestors remained peaceful all through the day and not a single glass was broken during the two-day strike. The sources said that IJT will now back Abdullah in court, taking plea that the victim girl had not filed an application against him.
IJT Secretary Information (Punjab) Usama Khalil said all those behind this ‘sad’ incident should be punished. He confirmed that Abdullah remained a member of IJT but his membership was cancelled because of violation of ‘party discipline’. “There are a few elements who want to tarnish the image of IJT,” Khalil said.
But during the course of this face-saving act, he demanded that the group of female students who were attacked should also be punished as they are held responsible for entering the Engineering Block on a day when they were ‘prohibited’.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\21\story_21-4-2010_pg11_3
