ISLAMABAD - Authorities in Pakistan’s most populous province have ordered all educational institutes shut as student-led protests grow after allegations of sexual abuse on a college campus.
The interior department in Punjab province also banned gatherings on Friday and Saturday. The closure is expected to affect about 26 million children in addition to adult learners in the eastern province.
Rawalpindi police officer Syed Khalid Mehmood Hamdani told the AFP news agency that 380 people had been arrested over vandalism and arson during protests in the city the previous day and investigations were ongoing.
"We will track down people from social media,” he said.
Protests broke out in the provincial capital Lahore last week after social media reports spread that a female student was raped in the basement of the Punjab College for Women campus.
Police arrested a security guard who was identified in online posts but said no victim had come forward and that they had not been able to verify the rape allegation.
The protests have since spread to campuses across Lahore as well as the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where police fired tear gas and charged at the students, who have accused the authorities of a cover-up. (Agencies)