NEW DELHI – A number of viral videos showed that students from the Hindu community being thrashed for celebrating Holi on the Punjab University campus in Lahore, media reports said.
At least 15 students from the Hindu community were injured during the attack against which an application has been filed with the police for registration of a case, Dawn reported.
Islami Jamiat Tulba (IJT) activists on Monday allegedly attacked a gathering of students on Punjab University’s new campus when they were celebrating Holi with the permission of the administration.
Some other videos also showed that the security guards were carrying batons and beating the students who were running away from the scene, Dawn reported.
Sindh Council general secretary Kashif Brohi said that the members of the Hindu community and the council had organised a Holi celebration after getting permission from the university administration.
He said the IJT activists started hurling threats after the students had posted invitation [Holi celebration] on their Facebook page.
He said that on Monday morning, the members of the Sindh Council and Hindu community gathered outside the PU law College to celebrate Holi when the IJT activists carrying guns and batons attacked them, Dawn reported.
Brohi said that 15 students from the Hindu community and Sindh Council suffered injuries during the clashes and moved away without celebrating the event.
He said the students later gathered to protest outside the vice chancellor’s office when security guards came there holding batons and started beating them.
He said the security guards also bundled four to five students into their vans and did not allow them to record their peaceful protest, Dawn reported.
IJT spokesperson Ibrahim Shahid, however, told Dawn that they did not stop the Hindu community members from celebrating Holi.
A PU spokesman said that action would be taken against the students involved in attacking the minority community members.
To a query, he said the administration had allowed the Hindu community members to obsereve Holi in a hall but they were conducting the activity in the open and the security guards came there to stop it, Dawn reported.
He said the students were not allowed to hold the Holi celebrations on the ground, adding that the security staff did not attack the students but they were trying to stop the youngsters from approaching the VC office. -IANS