PU Students protest over department closure

Lahore, The Punjab University security guards and police manhandled female and male students of the Institute of Mycology and Plant Pathology (IMPP) on Wednesday in front of the Vice-Chancellor’s Office when the students were holding protest demonstration and some of them also attempted to commit self-immolation over non-recognition of their degrees.

The students tried to commit-self immolation by dousing themselves in petrol while one student set himself on fire as the varsity administration did not bother to discuss the issue with the protesters for hours.

The office of PU VC Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran turned into a battlefield as the law enforcers and students clashed with each other over holding protests outside the Administration Block on the New Campus.

Amidst heavy contingent of police and university security guards, the students continued protesting and chanting slogans for almost six hours. They broke the barricades, placed to keep them away from the vice-chancellor’s office, and damaged the iron bar gate of the vice-chancellor’s office. Frustrated by the varsity administration’s lack of response to their protest, IMPP five students - Muneeb, Asif, Tariq, Lubna and Madeeha- doused themselves in kerosene oil but the police controlled them.