Hundreds of Pakistan's Punjab University students on Friday protested against the role played by the students' wing of the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami in the arrest of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.
The protest on the campus in Lahore was unprecedented in the province of Punjab, where all educational institutions have for decades been a stronghold of the Islami Jamiat Tulaba, the Jamaat's student wing that came to prominence during the tenure of late military dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq.
Hundreds of students, including girls, chanted slogans against the IJT during protests on Thursday and on Friday. A large number of students have quit their IJT membership to join protesters shouting 'Go Jamiat go.'
Imran Khan, the chief of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was detained by IJT members and handed over to police when he came to the university on Wednesday to join a student protest. He has been charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act and is being held in the Dera Ghazi Khan Jail in Punjab province.
During the protests, students cheered the former cricket captain by chanting 'Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, Imran Khan.'
"This is unprecedented. Thousands of students have united against the IJT," a University teacher said.
The IJT has suspended 17 members involved in manhandling Khan but the Tehreek-e-Insaf has accused the Jamaat of 'betraying' its chief. Law student Rai Kashif, who quit his IJT membership, said: "A large number of law students have quit IJT. The Jamiat has cheated us."
Women students said they were tired of being 'harassed' by the IJT. "We support the lifting of emergency and Imran Khan is the leader of progressive and modern Pakistan," one of them said.
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