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.
Faiz knew this country so well:
In the name of students
Who went to the masters of drums and banners
Prostrating themselves on doorsteps
With their books and pens
Praying, with open arms, to be heard,
But never returned.
Those innocents, who, in their naivete
Took their tiny lamps,
Their candle flames of hope, to where
The shadows of endless nights were being given out.
@Optimist
I appreciate your optimism. But one big factor behind this appearently small number of extremists here is that it is an “English” website.
Try reading comments on religious issues on http://blog.jang.com.pk to assess relatively more accurate figures
I look at the comments here and in the Danish blast post and I think the lesson is that MOST Pakistanis are against this type of violence and nonsense. There are a few people, but quite small number, who have totally crazy and dangerous ideas about justifying violence and some of them seem only to be seeking attention and they do keep repeating messages. But the vast majority is people with humanist feeling and without hatred. That is a good sign because it shows that the extremists are actually in a minority.
@Jameel,
if you think Zakir Naik is half-intelligent, I’m afraid you have bigger problems than I thus far perceived.
Why are people trying to distract and change teh discussion. It does not matter to me whether Ahmedis are Muslims or not, or whether Jamaat students are Muslims or not. Both groups will be judged by Allah and I will not do shirk like some people here are doing by talking as if they are God and they will decide who is or is not a real Muslim.
The issue is one of justice. Are all students to be treated the same in an educational institution. The answer has to be yes (those saying they will blow their nose on Pakistan are not worth talking to).
The question is also political. I agree with those who are asking for Shahbaz Sharif to take immediate action. Exactly. Lets see what he does. Exactly. But not just him, this is not just in Punjab, this is in Pakistan. So, lets see what Yousuf Raza Gillani and Asif Zardari do. As the ruling party and specially since it was Bhuttos party that declared Ahmedis non-Muslims, we have to see what they do and if they do nothing then they have really lost any respect they had. And what about Musharraf as President of the country. If he stays quiet then it will be further proved that he is a stooge not only of teh US but of the Mullahs.