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.
I would like to answer all objections against Khan, presented above.
First, University IS A PLACE for politics. US’ Columbia University invited Mehmood Ahmedi-Nijad at their campus, at a time when he was not even invited at United Nations forums, and was being treated as a terrorist by most western institutions.
Secondly, Punjab University has a Department of Political Sciences. How would students learn Political Sciences, when at the time of abeyance(murder) of constitution, they burry themselves in their hidings instead of coming out?
Morover, somebody wrote above that he should have been handled to Law-Enforcement agencies. There is no Law in this country as we speak, it died the day emergency was declared!
Even if he was to be handed over, he is the only Player who has won a world cup for Pakistan. He has never been mistreated like this by Police, he is a revered international Policy. He gave us a World-Cup, one which our generations culd not have won, and we could not give them a safe way out.
(I am from UET, PU should wait until UETians reach there, I’ll come there tomorrow, will see Jamiat!)
Read my thoughts on Imran’s humiliation in urdu on my blog http://www.mypakistan.com
It is good that most of us condemned this brutal act.
Imran is a national hero but in cricket. Its the same as a military general tries to do politician job. Both are wrong. If he wants to be in politics then he will be treated like any other politician (abused and praised) not like a national hero. And in politics he is still a nobody or if anybody then not more than like Nawabzada Nasrullah khan (one man party).
Problem is not how he is treated but where we are going to. We don’t mind when people we don’t like are being treated like that but it hurts us when our darlings are treated such. What is good for gander is good for goose. Remember Farooq Sattar, Tariq Azeem, Shaukat Qasuri. This is where our society is going. No tolerance, period.
it is shame for all of us the way we treated our true hero. But what else we could expect from IJT terrorists.they have ruined the peace of the university.It is not possible for IJT to do any thing with out the permission of Jamat-e- Islami, who is on the pay roll of IsI. But look at the reaction of western governments ,they don’t say even single word to dictator Mush. over the arrest of Mr.Khan,but they have alot to say over the house arrest of Benazir Bhutto.Isn’t double standerd.
IJT doest not represent student’s thoughts.they have their own agenda. thanks
I was really disapponited when i heared the news. Shame of Jamaat student. Is Islam teach you to harassor bully some one like that.