Pakistan’s Punjab province closes educational institutions for 3 days to contain student protests

 Lahore: Pakistan’s Punjab government has closed all educational institutions in the province for three days and arrested over 600 students in the face of the growing student protests against an alleged on-campus rape.

The Maryam Nawaz-led government has also banned all forms of public gatherings to address both the student protests and the jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party’s call for demonstrations in the country after Friday prayers for the “independence of the judiciary”.

 “All public and private schools, colleges, and universities will remain closed from Friday to Sunday,” the Punjab government said.

 Punjab police on Friday said it arrested over 600 students across the province in connection with violent protests.

 A spokesperson for Punjab police however claimed that several of the arrested students have been released after taking an undertaking from their parents.

 On the other hand, parents said that police used brutal force against students injuring dozens of them. They said the government and police are treating the students like hardened criminals.

 Since Monday, violent protests have been ongoing in several cities of Punjab following social media reports that a woman student was allegedly raped by a security guard at the Punjab College for Women in Lahore. At least 50 students have been injured, three of them critically, in the protests.

 Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz said no evidence of rape has been found and it was a “fake news”.

 The government said because of the prevailing law and order situation and threat perceptions, any kind of protest or procession is likely to be a soft target for terrorists and miscreants, which not only poses serious security threats but is also likely to cause danger to public peace and order as well as inconvenience to public at large.

 Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Wing launched province-wide raids for the arrest of some senior journalists, lawyers, TikTokers for spreading the alleged ‘rape story’ that incited students and the general public to hold violent protests across Punjab.

 The FIA has arrested Raja Ahsan Naveed, an employee of the National Assembly, Faisal Jutt, an advocate, and TikToker and vlogger Umar Daraz Gondal for allegedly instigating students to launch an armed and violent movement.

 Some 38 senior journalists and TikTokers are named in the FIR for spreading false information on social media regarding the alleged rape