| It's Perv's fault, of course. Or ours... |
 PUNJAB University students and teachers have described the preaching of jihad by fundamentalists in the university as a challenge for President General Pervez Musharraf's 'enlightened moderation' and a failure of the Punjab governor and university administration. Javed Kasuri, a commander of a militant group named Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), preached jihad to PU students in the Sultan Tipu Hostel last Friday. The Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT), the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, arranged the lecture. The HM, one of the major militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, is also associated with the JI.
| "Youse can't prove dat! Da witnesses are all dead!" |
Kasuri invited the students to a lecture on the ideology of the HM, but instead criticised secular groups. The IJT claimed that it was a 'simple' and 'routine' lecture about the life and character of the Prophet (Peace be upon him). Kasuri is a former head of the HM Pakistan chapter and is currently a member of the HM supreme council.
| Do they even pretend that the Kashmir jihad's an indigenous thing anymore? |
Teachers and students believe that the IJT have the right to propagate their ideology, but not in universities. They said that students should be allowed to complete their studies without any bias so that they may analyse all ideologies themselves. They said that the PU Hall Council was not fulfilling its responsibility to curb these elements in the hostels. Professor Dr Mugheesuddin Sheikh, PU Hall Council chairman, was not aware about the lecture.
| "I was... ummm... out of town at the time." |
However, a significant number of university teachers and employees, including hostel wardens and superintendents, are associated with the IJT. Lt Gen (r) Arshad Mahmood was appointed PU vice chancellor by former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif in 1999 to curb political elements in the university. Though he failed in the task, Lt Gen (r) Muhammad Akram khan, appointed vice chancellor of the University of Engineering and Technology by Sharif, rooted out all such elements. Government College University, Lahore, College for Women University and Kinnaird College do not have the presence of any political parties on campus, but the IJT has a stronghold in the PU. |