Two students with suspected al Qaeda links held in Lahore

Lahore: Pakistani law enforcement agencies on Wednesday arrested two students as part of an ongoing crackdown here on student groups with suspected al Qaeda links.

The students - Muhammad Umer and Muhammad Arsalan - were taken into custody days after the arrest of three suspected al Qaeda terrorists from Punjab University, officials said.

Both suspects are reportedly students of a private university in Lahore.

Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Mujahid Kamran has said that more terrorists with Al Qaeda links are hiding in hostels housing 32,000 students. He said he had given a free hand to intelligence agencies to raid hostels to arrest suspects.

Both suspects are reportedly students of a private university in Lahore.

Meanwhile, the Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT), an Islamic student organisation that has a strong presence in Punjab University, has denied that any terrorist is hiding the hostels.

The vice-chancellor, however, insisted that some members of the IJT, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami are collaborating with terrorists.

PTI