A group of students armed with sticks stormed into the mosque of the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad and started beating the students participating in a weekly halaqa organized by a student organization. The First Investigation Report (FIR) also states that a student named Qamarullah was tortured and then kidnapped by a group of individuals belonging to the Quaid-e-Azam Students Federation (QASF).

The President of the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) Pakistan has severely criticized the incident, calling it a “heinous crime”. In a statement to Academia, he condemned the attack and warned the authorities that the kidnapped students must be immediately rescued, and those involved in the incident, including members of the student councils, should be arrested and FIRs should be filed against them. “Otherwise,” he said, “the responsibility for our reaction will lie with the law-enforcement agencies.”

This is not the first time that violence has been perpetrated by student councils at QAU. In January 2023, the campus was closed for studies for almost a month due to similar violence. In 2021, student councils were accused of abducting and torturing a student, and several members of the councils were expelled with their degrees canceled.

The university administration has not yet issued an official statement on the latest incident.