BZU Multan closed “indefinitely” amid security threats

MULTAN (Staff Report) – Multan’s Bahauddin Zakariya University was closed on Thursday for an indefinite period amid security threats.

The university administration has directed students to evacuate the hostels and leave the university premises immediately.

According to sources, special teams of Pakistan Army and intelligence agencies visited the university campus earlier today, after which the administration decided to shut down the university immediately.

The university was due to close for summer vacations from June 6 and was currently in the middle of conducting final exams for different under-graduation programs being taught this semester. All the exams have also been postponed.

The examinations of post-graduate programs, which were scheduled to start from July 18, have also been re-scheduled to August 15.

An official notification said “university will remain closed from May 27 till further order on account of summer vacations.”

The sudden announcement to close the university comes just a week after Punjab’s Counter Terrorism Department killed as many as eight al-Qaeda terrorists in Multan. The killed terrorists were said to be planning a terrorists attack on the BZU campus.

In a similar move earlier this year, BZU was closed for two days after a terrorist attack on Charsadda’s Bacha Khan University in January. Police and intelligence agencies had conducted a search operation in the boys hostel of the university and all students were asked to go home.

Some 25, 000 students are currently enrolled in this major university of Southern Punjab.