In an uncivilized turn of events, the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan was manhandled at the Punjab University Campus today. He was later arrested by the police. A group of students kept him detained on the campus and later turned him over to the police. According to Dawn’s Report:
Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan was arrested from outside the Punjab University’s new campus on Wednesday after he had been manhandled and detained in the campus allegedly by activists of the Islami Jamiat Talaba. Imran Khan had gone to the university at the invitation of a joint action committee of students.
The visit had been approved by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, to which the IJT is affiliated. On his arrival at the campus, the PTI chief was confronted reportedly by a group of IJT activists who kicked him around and punched him. They took him to a room in the Centre for High Energy Physics and detained him there for about 45 minutes.
This is an interesting (and sad) turn of events. Imran Khan’s party and the mother party of IJT are both partners in APDM. Imran and Qazi have been seen together in many media photo shoots for the past year or so. Will today’s action by IJT guys will cause long term bad-blood between the two parties? It is left to be seen.
We strongly believe that inspite of political differences, no person deserves physical bashing and humiliation as was met out to Imran. Political differences should never be taken to such extreme where people use force to get their point across. It is wrong. Shame on those who manhandled him. I was recently reading an article on political bashing in the Wall Street Journal. It had a punch line which just kept resonating with me. It read:
Our politics suffer when passions overcome reason and vitriol becomes virtue.
Details on Imran’s manhandling can be read here, here, here and here.
YEAH I AGREE IMRAN KHAN WILL BECOME LEFTIST NOW AND HAVE SOME UNDERSTANDING WITH OTHER LEFTIST PARTIES AND STUDENT UNIONS SOON.
jamaat is on the payroll of army! and IJT is one hell of a munafiq party that i have ever seen! no politics but just using the islam name for the sake of dirty game! thats y even maulana muadudis son even didnt follow him! they talk abt islam and act against it.they called imran and ameer ul azeem,staged a pathetic politics in which they turned their own man in and imran khan to police with a lame excusethat they actin selfish for no politics in students! o contrary their nazims asks all their leadership to come when they are elected!
what a bunch of lamers IJT is! their credibilty now in PU is bleak! imran is popular among the youth for his strong nature and vision! hes much more than the maududi who just ran a movement against bhutto;s ouster as he drank wine lol and was makin a constitution that they percieved was unislamic! and today siding mush another drunk geek with more enlightenment that bhutto cant even think off! way to go jamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat e unislami and hats of to Islami Jagga Talaba!
whole LOTA love (November 15th, 2007 1:08 am) asks: “How would Imran react if someone from outside the university staged a protest against the UK government at BRADFORD university?”
Protests happen frequently at all universities in the UK & the USA. Here are two brief excerpts from the web that might answer your question better:
Exhibition recalls four days of student protest that shook the University
Thirty years ago the administration of the University of Leeds was brought to a standstill when hundreds of students staged a four-day sit-in at the Parkinson Building. The era of student protest had arrived in Leeds with a vengeance. Playing a central role in the occupation was the then President of the Students’ Union, Jack Straw.
Three decades on, Jack Straw is Home Secretary, and the University Archive is marking the anniversary of the 1968 protests with an exhibition in the Parkinson Building itself and a virtual exhibition on the World Wide Web.
Manchester University, UK Students Oppose Attack on Falluja
Manchester, UK. Friday 29th October 2004. Manchester University students launch a series of on-going weekly protests against the war in Iraq and the genocidal attack on Falluja by US and British forces. The protest takes place outside the Steve Biko building which houses the students’ union. Similar protests by other local peace groups take place at the same time in other parts of the city co-ordinated by Greater Manchester Stop the War Coalition.
Various student speakers address the crowds through megaphones on the busy Oxford Road outside the Biko building. A couple of students stand at the side of the road holding large cardboard placards calling upon motorists to “honk to oppose the war”. There is a good response from drivers as they pass the building.
Deewana Aik,
Great artice! It briefly discusses the real role of Jamaat Islami in the darker parts of Pakistan’s history
I have mentioned this before that much of the public support for MQM in Karachi and Hyderabad actually stems from people’s hatred (yes I am using the word hatred) for Jamaat Islami from the days they were the most powerful party in the preMQM era. And in a way one can quantify that hatred looking at the size of Altaf Hussain’s rallies. Same reaction is waiting to happen in Lahore. I just don’t know when. But when it does I just hope is not as drastic. I do, however, know that Punjab University and other schools in Punjab have been occupied territories of Jamiat for a very long time and they need to be freed.
Abbas Athar on the event and IJT; http://www.express.com.pk/epaper/Article.aspx?news ID=1100300912&Date=20071118&Issue=NP_LHE
I was once an Imran Khan supporter. Of late, however, his alliance with the obscurantist JI, and his generally right wing views, had driven me away from him.
The youth of this country are crying out for a honest and progressive leader to rally around. On some aspects Imran Khan fits the bill. However, in the last couple of years, Imran Khan disappointed me with his recent right wing stances (e.g., abstaining from voting for the Women’s Protection Bill).
If he chooses to distance himself from the Islamist parties, I am sure his popularity among students will rise. Perhaps this recent incident with the IJT will encourage him to do so.
Thanks for the link , Sasa. I know that Imran is not a typical Pakistani leader with bunch of makhdooms and Nawabs and Jageerdars in his party and therefore is electorally weak and Adil can rightfully call him a civil society actor. But despite his electoral weakness there is no one else who can be considered ideal for leading Pakistan. I stopped following anything he had to say after seeing him sitting in between Qazi Hussain And Fuzluarrahaman not too long ago but the above event may open his eyes. To quote another commentor, in Pakistan’s 60 years history maulvi kabhi kissee kaa nahi hoowaa.
Sasa, Amazing words. And all we can do is to reveal our petty minds and our petty interests, and are not afraid to sacrifice one of the greatest sons born on this soil for those interests.