LAHORE, OCT 18 – Authorities in Pakistan’s most populous province ordered all educational institutions closed today, as students staged protests after reports of rapes on college campuses in the country spread online.
The closure covers kindergartens to universities, where it will affect about 26 million children as well as adult students in the eastern province of Punjab.
Protests erupted in the provincial capital of Lahore after social media reports circulated of a female student being raped in the basement of the Punjab Women’s College campus over the weekend.
The police, the college and the provincial government say no victims have come forward to provide evidence and blame for the spread of misinformation.
The protests have spread to campuses across Lahore as well as the city of Rawalpindi, which neighbors the capital Islamabad, where students have accused the authorities of hiding.
Senior police officer, Rawalpindi Syed Khalid Mehmood Hamdani, today said 380 people have been arrested for vandalism and arson during protests in the city the previous day while further investigations will continue.
“We will track people from social media,” he said AFP.
Punjab’s education and home departments ordered the closure of all education departments in three separate notifications yesterday, without mentioning the alleged rape or protests. – AFP
