Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) members handed out pamphlets and advice to prospective new students at the Punjab University on Wednesday, even though the vice chancellor has accused the group of sheltering an Al Qaeda suspect at a university hostel.
Intelligence agencies arrested Ahmed Sajjad, who is believed to have been the handler for a terrorist cell in Lahore, from the PU Hostel No 1 earlier this month. Speaking on Tuesday, Vice Chancellor Prof Mujahid Kamran accused the IJT of sheltering Sajjad at the hostel.
Despite the gravity of the allegation, it appeared to have no effect on IJT’s activities on campus. On Wednesday, it set up admissions stalls at the University Law College, Institute of Education and Research (IER), Political Science Department, Hailey College of Commerce, Geography Department and Social Work Department. IJT activists at the stalls guided students about various programmes and distributed literature and pamphlets.
“I wanted to know about the merit formula and last year’s merit so I went to an IJT stall at the IER and sought guidance. The seniors their guided me politely and also shared their literature with me. They are really nice guys. Very helpful,” said Muhammad Ahsan, a student hoping to get into the MA in English language teaching programme.
Sheltering bad guys
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Prof Kamran said that the IJT’s parent body, the Jamaat-i-Islami, should “guide them to stay away from activities which are not in the country’s interest”.
“Security officials recovered lists of IJT activists from Sajjad’s room. He himself had served as IJT nazim in PU. Seven mobile phones were recovered from his room along with plastic gloves. An IJT member named Farooq even tried to intervene when the officials went to arrest Sajjad from Hostel No 1,” Prof Kamran said.
“It is a fact that Hostel No 1 has been an IJT stronghold for 40 years. On and off we have tried to take action against the illegal residents there, but IJT activists threaten our staff. Some people are [still] staying there illegally,” he added.
Asked why, if the IJT had been involved in criminal activities, it was allowed to set up admission stalls for prospective students, the vice chancellor said: “They have been here for many, many years. There are faculty members who ideologically stand with and support the IJT. We have no problem with that, but when you cross a certain limit in the name of Islam and get involved in activities which are against the interest of the country, it becomes a serious problem. Our teachers are working to free the hostels of all illegal occupants. I have held a meeting with the wardens of all the hostels on the issue. A police operation will be carried out when and where needed under the lead of the university administration.”
He said he had recently learned that the sons of three retired faculty members were fighting US forces in Afghanistan.
The vice chancellor added that he had declined appointment as head of the Higher Education Commission and asked to be allowed to continue at the PU because he was determined to put the university on the right path. “I strongly believe if Punjab University can be put on the right path, Pakistan can be put on the right path. It’s a mini Pakistan,” he said.
Not our fault
IJT Nazim at PU Abdul Muqeet rejected the vice chancellor’s claims, saying that he had exaggerated the arrested Al Qaeda suspect’s links with the group. “It is absolutely wrong that Sajjad was an IJT nazim. He was associated with the IJT, like thousands of other students who enter PU every year and take part in our annual sports festivals and debating contests,” he said. He added that the IJT had expelled Sajjad a year ago, but did not say why.
He said that there would be a backlash from students if the IJT were banned from setting up stalls. “He [the VC] is just maligning the IJT to save his own skin because he has failed to establish control over the hostels,” he said.
Muqeet said that it was not hard to get lists of old IJT office bearers, as they were active donors. In response to the vice chancellor’s claim that an IJT official had tried to prevent Sajjad’s arrest, Muqeet said that Farooq had merely asked the men who had entered the hostel who they were. When he had learned that they were there with the vice chancellor’s permission, he had stepped back, Muqeet said.
“There are three offices for PU security personnel at Hostel No 1 and around 28 people are on duty around the clock. It is a failure on their part that a student who graduated in 2012 and had links with Al Qaeda was residing in a hostel room,” he added.
Muqeet said that the hostels were very insecure. “In the last year, 130 motorbikes and cars have been stolen from here … Did the IJT steal them? The VC should … improve security at PU rather than accusing the IJT of wrongdoing. We have never had a relationship with a banned organisation,” he said.
The PU Academic Group and Academic Forum, at a meeting on Wednesday, backed the IJT on the matter and demanded that Prof Kamran resign.
The arrest of the Al Qaeda suspect at Hostel 1 was the result of an “utter administrative failure”, stemming from the vice chancellor’s “indifferent attitude” and “blatant patronage of his buddies,” said Dr Asmatullah, the Academic Group secretary, and Professor Zahid Mahmood, the Academic Forum secretary, in a joint statement issued after the meeting. “The vice chancellor … has started a blame game to shift his failure to others,” they said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2013.