ISLAMABAD - A student at Government Sadiq Egerton College in Bahawalpur killed English Professor Khalid Hameed for planning a farewell party which would have been a mixed gathering of the male and female students of the college.
Khateeb Hussain, attacked the professor with a dagger while the latter was preparing for the party.
Other students jumped in to stop the attacker but they could not save the professor, who later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Professor Hameed was set to retire in four months.
The police arrested the student and charged him with murder.
According to the police, the student did not have links with any religious group and had cited the professor’s decision for holding the party as the motive for the crime. Police also said that they were investigating the student’s past and the reasons behind his mindset.
Egerton College is one of few institutions in Pakistan with a majority female student population, with 4,000 women attending alongside 2,000 male students. Religion and gender are sensitive topics in Pakistan, where women’s rights are often described as un-Islamic by right-wing religious groups.
The incident was met with outrage on social media. People condemned the incident and highlighted the rising intolerance in the country.