Author Topic: Police presence at MAO leads students to avoid classes  (Read 4958 times)

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Police presence at MAO leads students to avoid classes
« on: May 09, 2008, 02:28:22 PM »
Police presence at MAO leads students to avoid classes

Lahore: The Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College, commonly known as MAO College, has again emerged as a hotbed of student violence after basking in a decade of peace on campus.

Right after the recent lifting of the ban on student unions by the government, there was violence at the college, which prompted the police to station more than 200 of their personnel in the classrooms of MAO College for the past week and a half.

Out of more than 2,000 female students, only 15 to 20 dare attend college. The attendance of boys is also very low, as most students are not comfortable with the presence of the police. "The college is virtually in the control of the police who grill every student and faculty member at the college gate to ascertain their identification," said a faculty member.

"They (police officials) use vulgar language to identify our studentship in the college," alleged a female student. Female students and teachers hold the college principle responsible for the police presence on campus.

"In fact, it is a power tussle between the student wings of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PML-Quaid," said another student, adding that the environment of the college was tense after clashes between activists of the Muslim Students Federation-Quaid (MSF-Q) and MSF-Nawaz last week.

Trouble started when MSF-N activists allegedly resorted to aerial firing and displayed party banners and stickers on campus as a show of strength. The college principle, Muhammad Khan, meanwhile allowed the police personnel to stay on campus to stop any untoward incident.

The college history: MAO College students have the honour of participating in the Pakistan movement. The college, however, bagged disrespect in the 1980s and 1990s when students such as Abid Chaudhry, Agha Naveed, Sunny Prince, Iqbal Khan, Ghulam Mustafa alias GM and Afzal Gujjar allegedly used this college to embark upon criminal activities.

They also had rivalries with another MSF group led by Arshad Amin Chaudhry, Atif Chaudhry, Arif Chaudhry, Rana Azim, Ibrahim Lucky, Abdul Jabbar, Suhail alias Mocha, Shahid Chaudhry, Ishaq Khan of Diyal Singh College and Islamia College Railway Road.

Sana Zia, Mass Communication Department head, said that the situation at the college was unacceptable for female students and their parents. She said that not only students, but also female faculty members were suffering due to the presence of the police on campus. She alleged that the college principle was responsible for the situation. Khadija, an MA student alleged that the police use indecent language while asking for identification.

Irum, another student, said that the parents were concerned about the safety of their daughters in the college. "It was a safe place for female students as everything was fine and violence was a thing of the past," she said. She said that the college had now become a police headquarters. "Even students, who are attending the college, are thinking about staying at home."

Sidra, another student, alleged that the principle had asked students not to come to the college from Tuesday, as the academic session had concluded.

College Principle Khan Muhammad said that the police was deployed to stop 'outsiders' from entering the college premises. He said that a peaceful environment prevailed on campus and there was nothing to be worried about. "Students, who are saying that there are problems in college, are lying," he said. The college was safe in the presence of the police, he said.

Islampura DSP Rana Javed said that all allegations leveled against police personnel at MAO College were baseless. "The police at the college are well educated and can't even fathom teasing female students. The police are being targeted only because they are stopping law-breakers. Students who are leveling the allegations are friends of the people who were creating trouble on campus."

 Daily Times