Lack of security has always been a barrier to female education in Pakistan. This includes sexual harassment, kidnapping, and attacks. Many girls experience harassment on the way to school and college. However, as for Punjab College for Women in Gujranwala, hundreds of male students gather outside the female institute with weapons to terrorize them.
One of the girls shared a video with an Instagram page to spread the word so the concerned authority could resolve the matter. The details in the video are shocking.
The student who chose to remain anonymous narrated, “AoA. I am a student of Punjab College for Women and I am trying to raise awareness on a recurring problem faced by our female students in Gujranwala.”
“13 March 2021, Saturday was the last college day before lockdown due to corona. On this day at around 3:00 pm (off timing), a group of about 80 to 100 male students from different boys campuses of Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC )rallied on motorcycles outside all girls campuses to terrorize the students.”
She added, “This is seen as normal behavior and is part of the “student culture”. Buses and vans are habitually followed by boys on motorcycles.”
Guns & aerial firing
“However, this time the boys went too far and still escaped without facing consequences. They infiltrated the PCW2 building and the buses. They harassed the female students by trying to break the windows and climbed the roofs. Some of them brought guns and did the aerial firing. They put the lives of both students and civilians in danger,” she said.
“The guards of PCW2 and a male professor helped to chase away the boys but they still escaped. I have attached video proof of these happenings.”
“In a country where a public marriage proposal got students expelled from university, I expect the same amount of anger on this disgusting and intolerable behavior,” the complainant adds.
“Please help me share these videos and raise awareness on this issue. We are not safe at our educational institutions.”
Here is the horrifying video
Securing schools has been left to the provincial governments. However, little attention seems to be paid to the specific need to protect girls’ education. In most cases, responsibility for enhancing and maintaining security has been passed to school authorities.
However, the abundance of crime being practiced by these male students seems to be unnoticed. Not to mention that aerial firing on its own registers under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATC), these hooligans are also openly harassing girls. Hope this reaches the concerned authority, and the matter resolves!
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