Pak varsity stops men, women socialising

The chief proctor of the University of Swat in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa barred the university’s male and female students from socialising with each other.

A notice said the students sitting or walking with those of the opposite gender inside the university, as well as outside the campus premises, will have to pay a penalty ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 5,000. There would also be an emergency meeting between the “offending” students’ parents and the school authorities.

However, soon after the notice was issued, the vice-chancellor of the university, Dr Jan Bakht, ordered an explanation in a call to the chief proctor Hazrat Bilal for issuing the notification without the VC’s permission, spokesperson for University of Swat stated.

According to Mr Bilal, the notification was a prank played by a student of the department and that the notification had originally been issued in 2011. Later the management suspended Hazrat Bilal.

“The vice-chancellor expressed that there is no space for gender discrimination at the varsity and condemned the fake notification,” said a statement from the University of Swat on Saturday.