The Police in Sindh’s Jamshoro district registered a sedition case against 17 students of the Sindh University (SU) over their alleged involvement in an anti-state protest, but investigation has failed to make headway as both police and university authorities appear hesitant to act.
Over 30 people, including some outsiders, participated in the anti-state protest inside the university campus last month, according to the FIR number 305/21 registered under sections 123-A, 124-A, 153-A, 147, 149, 109, and 505 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The FIR names 21 people including 17 Sindh University students. Other accused have not been identified.
The case was registered on December 3, at least 16 days after the protest November 18 protest.
The FIR says that on November 18 more than 30 people, including 17 students of the University of Sindh, gathered at Zero Point at the University of Sindh, delivered anti-national speeches and chanted slogans.
According to the FIR, a patrol team of Jamshoro Police Station was informed by a special informant that 34 to 35 people, including students of different departments of the university, had gathered at Zero Point in Sindh University to celebrate Culture Day.
When the police team arrived at the university on Thursday, November 18 at 2pm they found about 35 people gathered at Zero Point, giving speeches and chanting anti-national slogans.
The speeches and slogans were against the state of Pakistan and in favour of Sindhudesh, according to the FIR.
As soon as more police personnel arrived at the scene, the accused fled, it added.
The FIR also states that people who were not named in the FIR could be identified by the police patrolling team.
How did outsiders enter the university?
At least four people named in the FIR are not university students. How did they and around a dozen others manage to sneak into the university to join the protest?
SAMAA Digital‘s reporter visited Jamshoro for the fact check.
When he entered the university, no one stopped him or asked for an identity document. He arrived at Zero Point after asking for directions a few times.
At Zero Point, a few people were taking selfies with the Statue of Wisdom.
They said they were not university students and had entered the premises to click some snaps.
This answered the question about the entry of outsiders into the Sindh University.
What made the students protest in the first place? To find an answer, SAMAA Digital tried to contact Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Siddique Kalhoro at different times using different mediums. However, he was not available.
The investigation
Jamshoro Police Station SHO Malik Riaz told Sama Digital that a man involved in the protest was arrested and released on bail by a court.
Sharing the interrogation report, Riaz said the man was identified as Abid Ali Jamali, a resident of Jamshoro Phatak. He had studied only up to Intermediate (grade-12) and drives a rickshaw.
According to the interrogation report, Abid is a political activist linked with the Bashir Khan Qureshi group of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM).
The SHO said that ‘the culprits’ involved in the incident have been identified with the help of photographs and videos which cannot be refuted.
However, none of them has been arrested so far.
The police officer said the names of the students involved in the incident have been sent to the university administration.
The SHO said police had not yet concluded who was behind the anti-state protest. The arrested rickshaw driver, too, did not know who had organized the program, according to police officials.
Hesitant officials?
Jamshoro SSP Javed Ahmed Baloch told Sama Digital that the students named in the FIR have claimed that they were not involved in the incident and the university administration had given their names to the police to get rid of them.
The SSP said that some students claimed that they belonged to SPSF, a student group, and had no links to any banned party.
The police were examining the claim and will take action after completing the investigation, said SSP Baloch.
However, there is more to it.
Jamshoro Police Station Head Moharar Elahi Bakhsh revealed that the administration of Sindh University could not even dare to take action against the students involved in the incident, for two reasons. First, the accused live in the university hostels and the children of influential political figures also live in hostels, so it is not easy to touch them. Second, in January 2021, the then Student Advisor Prof Dr Bashir Ahmed Channer was shot dead a month after he cancelled the admissions of 18 students and banned them from entering the campus over disciplinary issues.
Channer was gunned down at Allama II Qazi Chowk, inside the university. Students he had expelled had their admissions reinstated later.
The top police officer in the province confirms the hesitation the authorities have exhibited so far.
Speaking to SAMAA Digital, Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mushtaq Maher said after the issue of anti-state speeches was reported on November 18, the police wanted to arrest the accused immediately, but Vice-Chancellor Kalhoro requested the police to postpone the action for a few days as the university was holding semester examinations and he feared that arrests would lead to a backlash from student organizations which could disrupt examinations by calling for protests.
source https://www.samaa.tv/news/2021/12/sedition-case-17-su-students-investigation/
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