KU students, faculty stage demo in memory of slain Chinese teachers

Students and faculty members of the Confucius Institute and other departments of the University of Karachi (KU) on Friday held a demonstration in memory of the Chinese teachers who lost their lives in Tuesday’s suicide blast on campus.

The protesting students and faculty members held Pakistani and Chinese national flags in their hands as they chanted the slogan ‘long live Pak-China Friendship’. KU Security Adviser Muhammad Zubair and Confucius Institute Director Prof Dr Nasir Khan also joined the protest to express their sympathies with the families of the slain Chinese teachers.

On Tuesday, a female suicide bomber outside the Chinese language centre blew herself up near a van carrying Chinese faculty members, killing three Chinese teachers, including the newly appointed Confucius Institute Director Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng and Chen Sai. The Pakistani van driver Khalid was also killed in the incident, in which Chinese teacher Wang Yuqing and a security guard, Hamid, sustained serious injuries.

The protesting students and teachers condemned the suicide attack on their Chinese teachers and demanded immediate punishment of those responsible. They asked the KU administration to make arrangements for the restoration of academic activities at the institute.

“We want to study, we want to learn Chinese language. Now, it is the responsibility of the government and the administration of University of Karachi to ensure the continuity of our teaching,” Ali Hassan, one of the protesting students, said.

He added that Chinese teachers were their guests and unfortunately the varsity could not ensure security for them under the Pakistani tradition of hospitality. “Our teachers lost their lives just because they wanted to educate us.”

Another student was of the view that whenever we talked about Pak-China friendship, we had to focus on learning each others’ languages and cultures so that we could understand the thoughts of each other. “This is why our teachers came from China to teach us. Their sacrifice should not go waste. Pakistani security agencies should strictly hold the culprits accountable for this heinous crime.”

Students were of the view that the entire nation was against the terrorists as Pakistanis had suffered great losses in the war against terror. The Pakistani director of the Confucius Institute, Prof Khan, said he was very sad over the killings of his colleagues. He said they had been working in the same office for years and now it seemed that everything had been destroyed.