Islamabad: A professor at the Punjab University in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore has been detained for his alleged association with the banned Hizbut Tahrir (HuT) group, local media reports said.
The organisation advocates the establishment of an Islamist caliphate.
Officers from the counter-terrorism department in Punjab raided the house of Assistant Professor Ghalib Ata on Monday and took him away for interrogation, the reports said.
Professor Ata had joined the Punjab University as a lecturer in the early 1990s. He completed a PhD in management sciences in 2007.
A year ago the professor was reportedly debriefed by an intelligence agency after reports that he sent HuT literature to faculty members who, he believed, might be influenced by the literature to join the organisation.
In Sept 2013, intelligence agencies reportedly picked up a member of Al Qaida from a hostel at the university.
A newspaper quoted a Punjab University spokesman as saying law-enforcement agencies must have detained Professor Ata for his alleged links with a banned organisation and that “we will not interfere in their work”.
Last month, counter-terrorism officials reportedly arrested Hisam Qamar, the chief of Karachi chapter of HuT, who worked as deputy general manager in the city’s electricity company.
