ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani university has suspended three staff after students created a stall to showcase Israeli customs and traditions as part of a mock UN debating contest, officials said yesterday.
Students at the International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) set up the stall, which featured Israeli flags and pictures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of their “model UN” exercise at the weekend.
The display, which also included a banner saying “Welcome to the land of peace and prosperity”, triggered a furious response from right-wing student groups who smashed its contents.
Pakistan and Israel have no diplomatic relations and the Jewish state is widely disliked in the conservative Islamic republic.
The university said the dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences, a student affairs adviser and a female lecturer had all been suspended over the incident.
An IIUI spokesman said the university “strongly condemns” the hosting of the Israel stall and stressed that “a number of resolutions were passed against the Israeli brutalities in Palestine” at the mock UN event.
A female student said the stalls were intended to showcase the religion and culture of various countries alongside a mock UN debate about the situation in Middle East.
AFP
