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.
I was a medical student and it is about saving lives of all human beings regardless of religious belief.
My Ahmadi friend at this College had all his possessions burned and he left Pakistan with only the jacket on his shoulders.
Now he is a doctor in England.
Who loses ? The innocent population of Pakistan
Another round of lunatics taking over.
Regardless of beliefs all Pakistanis have equal rights..
Frankly, most minority students excel and that attracts hostility from the mediocre minds.
Let us hope that the expulsions are reversed, JI thugs return to barracks, and the principal is fired for not upholding principles.
I believe that the Political leadership of the JI needs to be held accountable for the deliberate actions of the IJT as IJT is the evil spawn of the JI…
the IJT leadership has NEVER been held to account in a serious fashion even after the anti-Pakistan thugs of the IJT manhandled Imran Khan and handed him over to the agencies….
but I guess asking the JI to be held to account for such mundane stuff is asking a lot especially considering we have not even mustered up he courage to ask the JI to explain its resistance to the creation of Pakistan…
serves us right…for a shameless…spineless…sycophantic nation of people we are..
PS: at least the JI/IJT are equal opportunity thugs…they go after Muslim and Non Muslim Alike! :) bless their hearts!
I see this decision getting revoked pretty soon, not because its a wrong decision, but because the West is going to whip is with this.
As for me, I used to think that it was great idea to teach religion in institutes till the Mullahs started to blow everything they could not come to terms with.
I think the real problem here is not the cowardice of PMC administration, or bigotry of IJT. A snake can’t do anything by bite. The real problem is the Zia ordinance XX, which basically tells Ahmadis to stop behaving like muslims. i.e., if you call yourselves muslims you go to jail. If you say salam in muslim way you can get death penalty, you can not write Quranic verses, you can not use muslim terminology, call your places of worship mosque, say azaan etc etc. This is the height of ignorance and Gen. Zia and his Maudoodite cronies displayed in in 1984. In the presence of such laws Pakistan will always be put to shame by such events. Faiz said… keh sango khisht muqayyad hain aur sag azaad.. That has literally happened in our homeland.