Islamabad Admin, Jamia Hafsa Strike Agreement
'Pakistan Times' Wire Service

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Capital Territory administration and Jamia Hafsa management Wednesday evening struck an agreement to amicably resolve the dispute emerging out of threatening the video shop owners by the students of the seminary.

Both sides resolved to maintain peace, respect the overall law and order and avoid the recurrence of incidents that occurred during last couple of days.

Secretary Interior, Syed Kamal Shah confirmed the agreement between the ICT and the administration of Jamia Hafsa.

"We have reached an agreement," he said. Kamal Shah said at present the situation is that the Police has released their four people and the Jamia Hafsa administration has also freed three persons along with two vehicles who were taken as hostage by them.

The female students of Jamia Hafsa who were on roads to lodge a protest, have gone back to seminary premises, he said. Some students of Jamia Hafsa couple of days back had threatened the video shop owners and a local resident of dire consequences for their alleged involvement in immoral activities.

The students of Jamia Hafsa had taken hostage to a local woman along with her daughter in law, daughter and six month old granddaughter. When asked about avoiding such incidents in future, the Secretary Interior said, "there is law in vogue in our country that should be respected. If anybody has any complaints, he should approach the Police and the administration for remedial measures."

He said the Police and administration also owe the responsibility to ensure immediate steps to address these problems.

"The tendency of setting up a parallel administration by challenging the writ of the government is illegal," he said and added, it is in the knowledge of Ulema of Wafaqul Madaris that we expressed the utmost restraint and patience.

"We desire that sanctity of law is upheld and expect from every Pakistani citizen to respect the law of the land and discourage recurrence of such incidents," Kamal Shah said.

To a question about not taking an action, he said, there is a chain of command and all are there to resolve the problems.

According to an earlier report, the administrator of Jamia Hafsa Islamabad had warned the administration to release arrested girls of the religious school by 4:00pm otherwise the government will be responsible for the situation.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad Mohtamim Jamia Hafsa Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi said that the girls had caught a woman two days’ back for some transgression, for which the government has arrested two girls of the Jamia.

He said that no indiscretion would be allowed in the society adding that he was ready for Jihad.●