A small student group of Islamic extremists have been wreaking havoc at Paktistan’s premier institution of higher education, the University of the Punjab.

Iftikhar Baloch, a professor at the university, was attacked with metal rods and hit over the head with a flower pot after expelling several members of the group. After the incident university professors went on a three week strike that ended Monday.

University of the Punjab

The New York Times reports:

Its members block music classes, ban Western soft drinks and beat male students for sitting near girls on the university lawn.

The student group called Islami Jamiat Talaba has apparently terrorized the university for years, but has recently been gaining more power despite their small numbers. The group is against religious minorities and western countries. The government often looks the other way because the group has ties to the country’s oldest religious party.

“They are hooligans with a Taliban mentality and they should be banned, full stop,” Maliha A. Aga, a teacher in the art department, told The New York Times. “That’s the only way this university will survive.”

And the students’ control is organized and widespread.

The group created a parallel administration, according to a former member, Nadim Jamil, and has divided the university into five zones, with a nazim, or mayor, assigned to each. The dormitories are their fiefdoms, he said, where mayors monitor movements, hold Koran reading classes and recruit members.

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