AAUR student Murder case at university cafeteria

AAUR student 'murdered, not killed by muggers'
Rawalpindi, July 19: The episode of mobile snatching incident in which a student of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agricultural University, Rawalpindi, was killed on Friday night turned out to be a case of murder, when a number of students revealed that some students gunned the BSc (Honours) student minutes after a scuffle at the university cafeteria.

On Saturday morning, a group of university students, with the impression that Mohammad Shahzad shot dead when he offered resistance to the muggers snatching his mobile phone near Shamsabad Chowk staged a protest demonstration outside the university premises.

Muhammad Javed Iqbal, son of Abdul Hafiz, a resident of Iftikhar Colony, Ward-6, Nankana Road, Shah Kot, Nankana, lodged a complaint with the New Town Police Station saying that his younger brother Muhammad Shahzad was a student of BSc (Honours) at the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agricultural University. He said that Rana Safdar, son of Rana Amir, a fellow student of Mohammad Shahzad, told him that he had dinner with Shahzad and Usman on Friday night and later Usman took Shahzad out of the cafeteria at about 10 p.m. "I was told that two bike-riding men gunned Shahzad down in the presence of Usman and fled away."

However, City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi Rao Iqbal said, "It is a clear-cut murder case and not a mobile snatching incident that took the life of Mohammad Shahzad." He said that the investigators have collected the evidences and recorded the statements of eyewitnesses, describing it as murder. He said that the police have registered the case against the assailants on the complaint of victim's brother.

The CPO said that Usman and one of the other students were missing and the police were trying to trace them out, adding that Usman was the prime accused who disappeared soon after the occurrence.

Responding to a question, Rao Iqbal said that dozens of former students of Quaid-i-Azam University and Arid Agriculture University, who were rusticated from their institutions for their involvements in illegal activities, gathered in front of the university on Saturday and created law and order situation.

He said that the police resorted to baton-charge and hurled teargas shells to disperse the protesters, but the angry protestors suspended the traffic by burning tyres. The police, later, arrested 20 agitators and booked them under sections 427/186/353/149/148/341 and 337-H2.

Meanwhile, heavy contingents of police have cordoned off the university premises after searching the hostels while different police parties have been sent to hunt down the prime accused, Usman and his friend. The News

AAUR reopens tomorrow
Rawalpindi: Pir Mehr Ali Shah-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) will reopen on Monday after remaining closed following murder of a student in a mobile snatching attempt on Friday, said the university spokesperson. The murder ignited a protest by students, prompting the university administration to cancel examinations. He said the situation had come to normalcy and examinations would be resumed on Monday. He appealed to the students to stay calm. Daily Times