Muhammad Ayub, the sitting Nazim of the PU-chapter of Islami Jamiat Talaba, the student wing of the Jama’at-e Islami, says the IJT would never use force except in extreme cases. Last week, IJT activists beat up a boy and a girl of the English Department in public view. Ayub says this was because they were kissing in public, and because the IJT got phone calls from several students asking it to intervene and put an end to “such un-Islamic acts”. Besides beating up students for what the IJT says is ‘immoral’ behaviour, last week, activists of the student body also disrupted a concert organised by the Pharmacy Department. On this also, Ayub claims the IJT was called in to take action:
“There is no precedent of arranging musical concert on campus. This was the first time that some Pharmacy College teachers decided to arrange this concert. There was obviously a public reaction. Even parents called us and asked us to come and end this nonsense. We are not a parallel administration; when the university administration itself violates university rules, then people come to us for help and we act in accordance with their wishes.”
Ayub claims that instead of preaching Islam and giving quality education, the university is trying to promote vulgarity. “For this we also hold President Musharraf and Punjab governor Lt Gen (r) Khalid Maqbool responsible. They are spoiling the environment of the university in the name of ‘enlightened moderation’,” says Ayub. “The IJT would never have to intervene or called in to use force if the administration followed the rules and the Islamic mode of administration.”
Accompanied by the IJT Central Information Secretary Hammidur Rehman, Ayub reiterated that nothing against Islam and the university calendar would be allowed on campus. “According to the university calendar, nothing un-Islamic is allowed on campus. We are not imposing our own view but simply urging the administration to go by the book. There are immoral and un-Islamic activities that cannot be permitted on campus,” says Ayub. “We organise a Seerutal Nabi Conference on campus in the holy month of Rabiul Awal and the administration is going around arranging concerts! No one wants these un-Islamic activities on campus.”
Interestingly, the drink Ayub offered this correspondent at the interview was that of a multinational brand name, which have been completely banned by IJT on PU campus. The IJT only allows local brands to be sold on campus and have ‘boycotted’ all multinational brand names after the US attack on Afghanistan in 2001. “I am forced to offer you this [multinational brand] drink because no local brand was available in this area. Our local brands are rejected in the market,” Ayub told TFT.
Ayub is a student of MPhil Pharmacy and lives in the Punjab University hostels. He has become the nazim of the IJT after being a member and sympathiser of the student group for six years. Up until the time he took his matriculation exams, Ayub had not yet been introduced to the IJT. He became a sympathiser and member when he joined Gordon College, Rawalpindi. In 1999, he joined PU for a bachelorÂ’s degree in pharmacy and has since then been an active member of the IJT.
It was the admissions’ stall, the reception and later the Dars-e Quran at Gordon College, Rawalpindi that brought Ayub to the IJT. “But at PU the IJT work is much more intense compared to Gordon College. Plus I received a congratulatory card from IJT after getting admission in the [Punjab] university. I’ll never forget that,” the nazim recalled.