Campus death sparks controversy between IJT, Punjab University admin
LAHORE: A Punjab University student, who suffered three bullet wounds on the campus, succumbed to his injuries at Shaikh Zaid Hospital on Thursday.
According to detail, three friends Rana Ammar of the Department of Gender Studies, Dilawar and Huzaifa were sitting in their car outside PC Dhaba.
Huzaifa was cleaning his pistol when it went off and three bullets hit Ammar in the chest. Huzaifa leaving the vehicle fled the scene while Dilawar took Ammar to Sheikh Zaid Hospital where he could not survive.
Police shifted the body to morgue for autopsy and took Dilawar into custody.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) operations Faisal Kamran told Dawn that three students, who were also friends, were sitting in a car outside a cafeteria on the new campus of the university when their gun went off.
He said one of the students, Ammar, suffered three bullet wounds and was taken to Sheikh Zaid Hospital where he could not survive.
He said a student who was cleaning the pistol and accidentally shot his friend fled the scene while another was arrested.
Meanwhile, Islami Jamiat Tulba (IJT) activists came out in protest and attacked the Public relations officer (PRO), Human Resource, and Vice Chancellor office.
The protesters had broken the windowpanes and doors of the offices.
The IJT activist claimed that their rival student organisation had killed their activist in firing and the administration was not taking action against them.
PU admin officer Rana Irshad, who is a relative of the deceased, told the media that his nephew did not belong to any student organisation and he did not yet know about the cause of the incident.
The PU administration organised a press conference on the mysterious death of the student and said that no incident of firing occurred at the allegedly reported places.
PU Pro-VC Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood, Director General Prof Dr Rehan Sadiq Sheikh, Registrar Dr Ahmed Islam, Resident Officer-1 retired Col Umar Khalid, CSO retired Col Tanveer Bhatti, Director Students Affairs Dr Shahzeb Khan did the press conference.
They said that the IJT activists reported firing at different places at different times, on which all the mentioned places of the campus were thoroughly investigated by the police and security staff.
They said the security staff checked the CCTV cameras at those mentioned places, but no incident of firing was found in any of the CCTV cameras.
They said that there was no eyewitness to the shooting incident; neither bullet shell nor blood was found from any place.
They said the administration regretted the death of Ammar.
He said the student is the nephew of PU’s admin officer Rana Irshad and according to him, the deceased had no connection with any student organisation.
They said IJT is deliberately blaming the administration of PU. They said the activists of IJT attacked the admin block, broke windows, attacked the canteen and vandalised it.
They said the PU administration will not get blackmailed by anyone.
They said that the media, students, teachers and employees are requested not to believe in hearsay.
They said the PU administration is in contact with the police for investigation.
Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2024