On Saturday, July 22, the Baghdadul Jadid Police in Bahawalpur City of Punjab, Pakistan arrested officials of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB) for possessing drugs, objectionable videos and images of IUB female students and women staff members. The Police said that a group of the IUB teachers were involved in the drug peddling and sexual exploitation of female students and other teachers.
According to the local reports, the incident came to the fore on June 28 when a car was stopped at a police checkpoint in Baghdadul Jadid. The car driver tried to turn around when he saw the cops, but the police caught him on the spot. On examination of the vehicle, the police discovered aphrodisiacs and 10 g of ice in his possession. The driver identified himself as IUB Chief Security Officer Syed Ejaz Hussain Shah.
The city police then registered a case under Section 9(2)1 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997 and began an investigation into the case. The police in the FIR mentioned that the accused had two mobile phones and both contained several derogatory videos of women in them. During interrogation, Shah, a retired army major confessed that the objectionable pictures and the videos were of the officials of IUB’s various departments and girl students.
Heartbreaking Story of 5500 University Girls‼️
— Aqssss (@AqssssFajr) July 23, 2023
This guy is Islamia University Bahawalpur Chief Security Officer Major Ijaz Shah. This gentleman has been posted as Chief Security in Islamia University for about 7 years.
The accused was taking a girl in a private car after… pic.twitter.com/RrrwaexvpH
Baghdadul Jadid SHO Abid Hamid while talking to the Dawn stated that the car of the accused person was searched on intelligence-based information. The police also seized the drugs and the mobile phones which contained the derogatory videos of the women. “The police are active to eliminate drug peddlers from educational institutions,” the officer was quoted as saying.
Later on last Friday, July 22 the Police are said to have conducted raids at the University to arrest two other officials on similar charges. The other two arrested persons have been identified as Finance Director Abu Bakar and Transport Incharge Muhammad Altaf. The two during the investigation also confirmed that they were in possession of drugs and derogatory videos of university women. The two were also booked and arrested by the police under Section 9(2)1 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997.
According to a special assessment by the police, the three officials detained on drug-related charges were also engaged in extortion and the sexual exploitation of university faculty and staff.
“The treasurer confessed that he along with a group of other teachers would purchase and distribute drugs through students and plan dance/sex parties,” the initial investigation report suggested.
The police further discovered that the “group of teachers” would kidnap girls, use them as bargaining chips, and implicate them of using narcotics (ice, alcohol, and charas [hashish]) and that he was committing these crimes with the assistance of the IUB security chief.
The investigative team identified teenagers for “supplying and buying drugs” after examining his cell phone. 11 university students were found to have criminal records and be engaged in drug dealing after an inquiry. Screenshots of “objectionable pictures of the women and communication regarding the sale and purchase of drugs” were likewise included in the investigation report.
While several reports claim that the police seized phones having around 400 obscene videos, others say that the phone contained around 5000 videos of women from the University.
The University on the other hand has called cases against the officials bogus and has asked the police to investigate into the arrest of the officials. “IUB is following zero tolerance policy for the use of contraband drugs as well as sexual harassment or exploitation,” Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Athar Mehboob said in a letter written to Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Usman Anwar last week.
The IUB legal advisor also has requested the police chief to restructure the investigation team in a separate letter to the IGP. In addition, he requested that the Lahore High Court chief judge order a judicial inquiry as the university was the ‘target’ of the proceedings.
Meanwhile, a committee has been established by the secretary of the south Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) to look into the charge filed against the chief security officer for “carrying/using the contraband substance” and alleged discovery of inappropriate data from his cell phone. The report is due in three days, per the secretary’s request.
