ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province have closed all educational institutes for today, Friday, amid widespread student protests over reports of a college campus rape.
The protests first broke out in the provincial capital of Lahore last week after social media reports suggested a student had been raped in the basement of a Punjab College for Women campus in the city.
The police, college and provincial government have said that no victim has come forward and blamed online misinformation for the unrest, but the protests have since spread to campuses across Lahore as well as Rawalpindi and other cities.
“All the public and private sector colleges and universities in Punjab shall remain closed on Friday, October 18,” the Punjab higher education department said in a notification on Thursday night.
Separately, the school education department ordered all public and private schools shut across the province on Friday.
On Thursday, more than 350 people were arrested in Rawalpindi, which neighbors the federal capital of Islamabad, on charges of damaging public property and engaging in arson, according to the police. Teams have been set up for more arrests.
“Special teams will also identify those inciting mischief on social media,” the police said on X.
The demonstrators, mostly male students, smashed windows and burned school buses at campuses in Lahore and have also clashed with police at many of the demonstrations, accusing authorities of a cover-up.
“They’ve bribed the government and top officials to cover up the truth, just to protect their institution’s reputation,” said a 19-year-old student protesting in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
“This is not fake news — it’s 100 percent real,” added Inshai, another 19-year-old demonstrator, who did not want to give her last name.
The protests reflect a deep concern among Pakistani students over safety, harassment and sexual assault against women at educational institutions as well as their mistrust in authorities.
Police arrested a security guard who was identified in online posts but said no victim had come forward and that they had not been able to verify the rape allegation.
“The incident does not exist,” Arif Chaudry, the Lahore director of the private Punjab Group of Colleges that runs the women’s college, said on Wednesday. “I will resign and I will leave this profession and stand with the students if the incident took place.”
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has said that those spreading “false posts” will be punished.
— With additional input from AFP
Pakistan’s Punjab shuts educational institutes amid student unrest
https://arab.news/cvenf
Pakistan’s Punjab shuts educational institutes amid student unrest
- The protests first broke out in Lahore last week after social media reports suggested a student had been raped in the basement of a women college campus
- The police, college management and the provincial government have said that no victim has come forward and blamed online misinformation for the unrest
Pakistan says 67 Afghan Taliban killed in border clashes
- Information Minister Tarar says coordinated attacks in Balochistan and KP were effectively repulsed
- Security official says Pakistan carried out ground and air strikes in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Tuesday it forces have killed 67 Afghan Taliban fighters in cross-border clashes in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), after what Information Minister Ataullah Tarar described as coordinated attacks on multiple locations along the frontier.
Pakistan, which has frequently blamed Afghanistan for sheltering anti-Pakistan militant groups like the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and facilitating their cross-border attacks, said it targeted militant hideouts on the other side of the frontier after repeatedly taking up the issue with the administration in Kabul.
The Afghan Taliban, who have always denied Islamabad’s charges, launched what Pakistan called “unprovoked aggression” in support of militant entities.
“Afghan Taliban resorted to physical attack on 16 locations in Northern Balochistan in Qilla Saifullah, Noshki and Chaman Districts while engaging our troops on 25 locations in fire raid,” Tarar said in a social media post.
“The attack at all the locations have been effectively repulsed with Afghan Taliban suffering 27 killed and scores injured,” he added. “One soldier of FC Balochistan North gave the ultimate sacrifice while defending the motherland while five soldiers are injured.”
Tarar reported similar hostilities in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, where a physical attack was attempted at one location and fire raids were conducted on 12 others, all of which were repulsed without Pakistani casualties.
“40 Afghan Taliban were killed in the overnight operations in KP,” he said.
A senior security official told Arab News on condition of anonymity that Pakistani forces were also conducting ground and air operations across the border in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province.
The official said Pakistani forces had destroyed an ammunition depot and drone storage facility near Jalalabad and targeted the Khogani base in Nangarhar, adding that the operation against Afghanistan would continue until its objectives were achieved.
There was no immediate comment from Afghan authorities.
