GUJRAT – Administration has announced closure of all public and private colleges for three days in Gujrat due to ongoing protest by students over alleged rape of a student in a college in Lahore.
The deputy commissioner of Gujrat has issued a notification in this regard.
“In view of prevailing agitation by the students, all the public and private colleges (Male & Female) in Gujrat District shall remain closed w.e.f 17.10.24 (Thursday) to 19.10.24 (Saturday) forthwith on administrative grounds,” read the notification circulating on social media.
The authenticity of the notification is yet to be verified independently.
The protests first sparked in Lahore and later expanded to other cities over alleged rape of a female student by a security guard in Lahore.
However, the parents of the girl, police and Punjab government have denied the reports, saying no such incident occurred at any college in Lahore.
Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of orchestrating a false narrative around an alleged assault at a Lahore college, claiming it was a ploy to create chaos after their sit-ins failed.
During a press conference in Lahore, Maryam Nawaz stated that the reported incident from October 10 was entirely fabricated. She clarified that the girl, who was said to have been assaulted, wasn’t even present at the college on the day in question. “They claimed the CCTV footage had been erased, but the truth is, no such event ever took place,” she explained. “First, they concocted a fake story, and then they began searching for the so-called victim, but no witnesses existed because the incident was fabricated.”
Maryam further noted that the girl mentioned in the rumors has been hospitalized since October 2, and the security guard accused of the crime was on leave at the time. The guard was later arrested from Sargodha and is currently under investigation.
She condemned PTI’s actions: “They took a non-existent event and turned it into a major issue, trying to mislead the public through social media campaigns.” She accused PTI of resorting to this “dangerous plan” after repeated failures in organizing protests. Maryam also revealed that the alleged victim’s mother had requested that the real culprits behind this conspiracy be exposed.
