The most populous province in Pakistan has ordered all educational institutions to close on Friday, prompting students to launch protests in response to internet accusations of a rape on a college campus.
In addition to adult learners in the eastern Punjab region, the closure will impact around 26 million youngsters, ranging from playgroups to universities.
Following social media claims that a female student had been sexually assaulted in the basement of a Punjab College for Women campus over the weekend, protests erupted in the provincial capital of Lahore.
According to the provincial administration, police, and college, no victim has come forward and has placed the responsibility on false information found online.
Since then, the demonstrations have expanded to colleges throughout Lahore and the nearby city of Rawalpindi, where students are accusing the government of staging a cover-up.
Without addressing the alleged rape or the demonstrations, Punjab’s home and education ministry ordered the shutdown of all educational departments late on Thursday in three different announcements.
Additionally, gatherings on Friday and Saturday are prohibited by the provincial interior department.
“They’ve bribed the government and top officials to cover up the truth, just to protect their institution’s reputation,” claimed one 19-year-old student protesting Thursday in Rawalpindi.
“This is not fake news — it’s 100 percent real,” added Inshai, another 19-year-old demonstrator, who did not want to give her last name.
The demonstrations are a reflection of the profound mistrust Pakistani students have for the government as well as their concerns about safety, harassment, and sexual assault of women at colleges.
The majority of the protesters are male students who have broken windows and set fire to school buses on Lahore campuses. At numerous protests, there have also been altercations between students and police.
Authorities detained a security officer who was recognised from internet posts, but they claimed that no victim had come forward and that they were unable to confirm the rape claim.
“The incident does not exist,” Arif Chaudry, the Lahore director of the private Punjab Group of Colleges that runs the women’s college, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“I will resign and I will leave this profession and stand with the students if the incident took place.”
The chief minister of the province, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, said that those who spread the false posts would be punished.
