Atif Mian
On Thursday, June 5th, the principal of Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, expelled every student who belonged to the Ahmadi community from the college.
A total of twenty three students, fifteen female and eight male, across the five years of medical school have been expelled as a result. Further details regarding the incident can also be found in reports from the BBC and from the Daily Times.
The Ahmadi students were “accused” of preaching their religious beliefs. The principal was pressured into expelling the entire Ahmadi student body by a mob of protesters belonging to Islami Jamiat e Talaba. The mob circled the Principal’s office and demanded the expulsions. The same day, a mob of about 300 college students also barged into Ahmadi students’ rooms, beat them and threw their luggage out of their rooms.
What makes this incident especially troubling is the fact that the decision to expel Ahmadi students was taken by a government-run medical school, under full knowledge of the relevant Punjab ministries.
As an academic, and a Pakistani, I am totally appalled by this latest incidence of religious fanaticism. One hopes that the present Punjab government turns a page, and instead of supporting the forces of extremism, comes to the protection of its ordinary citizens.
Atif Mian is Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.
ayesha fazal:
Thanks for providing the first hand information on the events. First of all, there is something called “privacy” or “confidentiality” when it comes to personal details. If any student has provided wrong information on their application forms, it is not IJT or their supporters who should take notice. They should not have access to such information in the first place. Also, it is the duty of College administration to enquire into the wrong information submitted and expell the culprits on the basis of “lying on their application forms”, not preaching their faith. Secondly, the proper statement in order to ascertain the real religion of a person (especially in case of Ahmadis) is available on the passport forms. No ahmadi can declare himself a sirkari mulsim based on that statement. But if you ask me whether I am a. A muslim or b. non-muslim, then I will definitely choose a. Muslim. You have to include the constitutional ammendment in the applicaiton form which defines a muslim as anyone who rejects Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, then I will happily select the statement “o kafar kafar aakhday, tu aaho aaho aakh”. So please do not give me this innocent excuse that confidential information about those students was made public.
They were definitely preaching their religion.. Right.. I agree they were. But Pakistani law is clear on this situation. The victims of this preaching should have gone straight to the police with evidence. It is very common for Ahmadis to go to jail on these charges. Expelling them is just not the right solution. I have committed this crime of preaching in University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The victims were surprised at the fact that I believed in everything islamic and knew more about history of Islam and Quran than their nazim sahib. But alas, they lost their sense of loss of faith by speaking to an Ahmadi. What a grave sin.. They should have gone to the police.
Tearing Khatme Nabuwwat posters.. Right.. I hope they did. Because I am sure no posters were allowed in campuses when I was studying there. It is a common practice among Pakistani Mullahs that they hide behind the sacred nature of texts to propagate their politics. And besides, was it all 23 students who tore up the posters. Again, if anyone was aggrieved by the tearing of posters, they should have gone to the police.. Not PMC administration because they should have banned such posters from the campus anyways.
Using foul language against the Holy Prophet (saw)!!! Despite the great clarity of your announcement, I am not convinced. I hear this again and again, but never hear the nature of the foul language used. Once a charsi who used to eat from my uncle’s house came asking for money. My uncle refused becuase he knew it would go towards his drugs. A few hours later I saw the same charsi in the local market shouting that he saw my uncle putting the pages of Quran in a gutter. I am sure the IJT hooligans are doing the same thing. Now, I demand that you quote the “foul language” used. Anyone who knows any Ahmadi will refuse to accept that Ahmadis do not love the Holy Prophet (saw). It is only the mullah who can’t see the facts.
i am myself a student of pmc and i can tell u that the decision made was necessary and rightly taken to allow peace to prevail at pmc
what was done was right
and i myself am witness to all the misdeeds of the ahmedi students
and the biggest point is that what was done is justified by the fact that
1…the students wrongly enrolled them selves as muslim students in the first place
2…the ahmedi students WERE preaching their religion
3…the DID tear the khatm e NABOOWAT saw conference posters
4….and used foul language against RASOOL saw
and all the students at pmc irrespective of their involvement in any one of the two prominent student political parties will stand united against the decision of their enrollment back into the college
Even the suspension is kind of fishy.
You are punishing 23 students for the actions of 4?
It still stinks of secterian/religious bias.
Good news. Shahbaz shareef is the better leader in many respects. I hope he gets a strong grip on the mullahs during his time in power.
I also just heard that decision has been reversed and also that it was directly because Shahbaz Sharif took notice. I think this shows real leadership by Shahbaz. Zardari would never have done this. It was Bhutto who first created these crazy laws.