Serial harassment and murder on Sindh’s university campuses?
https://arab.news/8ef4e
“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.” What Ian Fleming wrote so many years ago seems increasingly applicable to series of incidents that have occurred in Sindh’s medical colleges over the past few years. First there was Nimrita Kumari, who was found dead in her hostel room in the Bibi Asifa Dental College in Larkana (part of the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University) on 16 September 2019. Nimrita had ligature marks on her neck, which the college administration and police took as indication of suicide by hanging, though neither could quite explain where the rope or wire she allegedly used to end her life had gone. Surely Nimrita couldn’t have disposed of the rope after hanging herself? Unconvinced by this flimsy explanation, Nimrita’s bother Dr Vishal remained adamant that his sister was in fact murdered.
Soon, his fears were proven true as the autopsy report issued by Chandka Medical College Hospital revealed the presence of male DNA on Nimrita’s clothes, and so did the vaginal swab. This, taken with the strangulation marks on her neck, pointed to rape and murder.
Arrests were made, but as is usual in such cases, attention quickly moved on and the case was effectively buried.
Then, on Nov 24th 2021, Nosheen Kazmi, a fourth year MBBS student at Chandka Medical College (also part of the SMBBMU), was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room. Once again, police and the administration claimed this was suicide. Once again, the girl’s family suspected foul play. And once again, it seems they were right.
Just a few days back, the Forensic and Molecular Biology Laboratory for DNA testing at Liaquat University Medical Hospital Sciences Jamshoro revealed that there was a 50% match between the male DNA found on Dr Nimrita’s case, and the male DNA found in swabs taken from Dr Nosheen.
There is a deep rot in Sindh’s universities. There is, to all appearances, a network of evil in operation. This impunity must end; this reign of terror must be stopped.
Zarrar Khuhro
Now, even if a 50% match is not conclusive the very fact that male DNA was found on both bodies, and the other similarities mean that, at the very least, the administration should have taken note and initiated a serious investigation with the aid of the police.
They did nothing of the sort. Instead, the SMBBMU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Anila Attaur Rehman began to allege that this was a result of a conspiracy to malign the university. Ignoring the actual contents of the report, she took the legalistic route and argued that the lab did not have legal mandate to match samples from two different cases. Once again, we see a clear pattern of denial and deflection.
Then come Parveen Rind’s explosive allegations. Parveen is a nursing student and house officer in the People’s University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women in Nawabshah who alleges that she was threatened and sexually harassed by three officials at the university who locked her in her hostel room and brutally beat her in order to make her comply with their ‘unethical’ demands. In a video uploaded on social media she showed bruises on her arms that were the results of this alleged beating by this trio of harassers whom, she claims, have been targeting her since her first year. She isn’t alone in this claim, and another student named Almas Behan also alleges that she faced similar harassment at Sindh university and the probe committee, instead of helping her, attempted to intimidate.
Parveen Rind, for her part, claims that the spate of ‘suicides’ of female students in Sindh’s campuses are in fact murders carried out by an organized ring of rapists, harassers and murderers who she alleges, operate with the collusion of the administration. No wonder then that she has no faith in the inquiry committee set up by the very administration she accuses. For the record, I agree with her.
Thus far the Sindh government has responded in typical fashion: with inquiries and committees and probes but the fact is that these are insufficient and, in the context of what is now a clear pattern, can easily be taken as an attempt to sweep the issue under the carpet. One would like to be proven wrong on this count but for that we need to see action, and not just empty words and statements of concern. One must ask why serious allegations were ignored for so long. Granted, the vice chancellor Dr Anila has been sent on forced leave, as has Prof. Akhtar Baloch, Vice Chancellor of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University, Lyari, who is himself accused of sexual harassment, but the rotten edifice that has been exposed stays very much in place.
And here we must appreciate the actions of the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court Ahmed Ali Sheikh who took suo moto notice of Parveen’s allegations and ordered the otherwise complacent police to complete the probe in 15 days. In the last hearing of the case, the CJ openly said that the accused in this case was in Nawabshah while the police was conducting raids in Jamshoro, and if that isn’t a damning indictment of the entire sorry affair, then I don’t know what is. There is a deep rot in Sindh’s universities. There is, to all appearances, a network of evil in operation. This impunity must end; this reign of terror must be stopped.
— Zarrar Khuhro is a Pakistani journalist who has worked extensively in both the print and electronic media industry. He is currently hosting a talk show on Dawn News.
Twitter: @ZarrarKhuhro
