“They turn things from bad to worse."
On October 18, 2024, Pakistani authorities shut all schools and universities for two days in Punjab’s eastern province of Lahore.
The shutdown occurred to contain the spread of protests by students over an alleged on-campus rape. The closures affect an estimated 18 million students.
Tensions have been mounting on college campuses since reports of the alleged rape spread on social media. As a result, protests broke out in four cities.
Hundreds have clashed with police, leading to injuries and arrests.
On October 17, 2024, police fired tear gas and charged student protesters who ransacked a college. The police said they arrested 250 people on charges of disrupting peace.
In Gujarat, a security guard died in clashes between student protesters and police on October 16, 2024. The police arrested a person in connection with the death.
Officials have fiercely denied that rape occurred on a campus of the private Punjab Group of Colleges in Lahore.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz claimed the accusations were politically motivated, as the opposition party was trying to create unrest.
Shaukat Basra, the provincial secretary for information at Imran Khan’s party, accused Nawaz of trying to conceal the crime.
He questioned: “If it was fake news and the PTI brought students to roads, why did it close all educational institutions in Punjab?”
Arif Chaudry, the Lahore Director of the private Punjab Group of Colleges, was at a press conference on October 16, 2024.
He said, “The incident does not exist. I will resign, leave this profession, and stand with the students if the incident took place.”
Yet, on social media, posts continue to assert a rape did occur.
These posts also showed unease and anger with official responses to the protestors.
Some protestors alleged that a cover-up took place.
Officials are seeking the arrest of nearly three dozen people, including several journalists.
They said that the misinformation on social media led to the protests.
The student protests seemed to have begun spontaneously, as student unions have been banned in Pakistan since 1984.
Hasna Cheema, from the rights group Aurat Foundation, said neither Pakistani police nor the media were trained to handle such sensitive matters:
“They turn things from bad to worse instead of solving them.”
Official responses have fanned the flames of disquiet and student dissent.
In September 2024, the Sustainable Social Development Organisation said that there were 7,010 rape cases reported in Pakistan in 2023.
Almost 95% of cases are in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Social stigma around sexual violence in Pakistan is acute, often discouraging cases from being reported.
Women are usually said to have lost their own and family’s honour.
The protests and their intensity suggested a deep concern among Pakistani students over safety and sexual violence against women.
The protests in October 2024 came less than a month after a woman reported that she was gang-raped while on duty during a polio vaccination drive.
Her husband threw her out of the house and threatened to kill her after the reported assault, saying she had tarnished the family name.
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