Pakistan province shuts education institutions after violent protests over alleged rape

By Mubasher Bukhari

Authorities shut schools, colleges and universities in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province on Friday following the most violent student protests in the country in recent years over the alleged rape of a student on campus, officials said.

The protests have spread since Monday, with participants alleging that a female student was raped by a security guard on the campus of a private college chain in the city of Lahore.

Hundreds of protesting students demanded action by the government, but officials say they have not yet found any evidence of such an incident, with some blaming social media for spreading fake news.

Dozens of students, police and college employees have been injured since Monday as protesters clashed with law enforcement as they rampaged through several of the campuses in the chain, police said, adding hundreds of students had been arrested.

All educational institutions will remain closed on Friday, an order issued by the Punjab government and seen by Reuters, said. No official reason was given.

"We have investigated it thoroughly - no such incident happened," Lahore police chief Bilal Saddique Kamyana told a news conference on Thursday, adding that no complainant had come forward on the matter.

Despite official denials, anger has grown in Pakistan, particularly on social media.

FAKE NEWS

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, in a press conference, said the incident was fake news being spread by the party of political rival Imran Khan, who has been in jail since last year.

Nawaz, the daughter of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said a number of social media accounts, including ones affiliated with Khan's party, had shared "doctored images" of the alleged victim and some video bloggers had also spread false information.

Shaukat Basra, the provincial secretary for information at Khan's party, accused Nawaz of trying to conceal the crime.

"If it was fake news and the PTI (Khan's party) brought students to roads, why did it close all educational institutions in Punjab," he told Reuters.

While some students said the victim was admitted to a hospital, police say the girl being identified had been there days before the alleged incident having fallen down a flight of stairs.

In a bid to quell rumours, police released a video alongside a man wearing a surgical mask identifying himself as the father of the girl, saying she was wrongly being named as the rape victim.

The students have nevertheless continued their protests, saying authorities were trying to hush up the case due to the involvement of powerful people.

A petitioner sought the intervention of the courts on Friday, and Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Aalia Neelum, ordered an independent panel to be set up, headed by the chief of the Federal Investigation Agency, government prosecutor Khalil Ishaq said.

Agha Tahir, director general of the college chain where the incident allegedly happened, which has nearly 600,000 students enrolled, said they had submitted all official records and closed-circuit camera footage to help the police investigation.