RAWALPINDI: When a watchman of a women`s college was told by an unidentified motorcyclist that a gunman was on his way to the college, he sounded the emergency alarm and triggered a city wide panic, with students of the college running out to seek refuge in nearby streets, parents rushing to take their children home and traders closing down their shops for the day.

At about 10:10am on Wednesday, a motorcycle rider wearing a helmet told Abdul Rehman, a watchman at the Waqarun Nisa College for Women on Tipu Road, that a gunman was coming to the college, the Punjab Education Department Director Colleges Hamuyun Iqbal told Dawn.

Abdul Rehman then relayed the information to the guard deployed inside, Chaudhry Omar, who activated the emergency alarm.

Panic spread through the college as students and staff ran out of the college with some seeking refuge in the streets on either side of the college and others hiding under their tables and behind book shelves.

Students jumped out of the windows and many could be seen crying.

Kashif Junald, a rickshaw driver passing by, called the emergency police service 15 when he saw students running out of the college. He asked some girls what had happened.

`When the students told him their college had been attacked by gunmen, he called 15 who alerted the police at about 10:15 am,` a senior police officer told Dawn.

Police, Rangers and the anti-terrorism unit from the Elite Force and officers from security agencies hurried to the college and started a search for the gunmen. The college was declared safe after a long search found nothing suspicions on its premises.

A second year student, Ruqia Saleem, said: `We were in the canteen when we heard the alarm and saw some girls running.

She said two security guards had told them to take shelter. `We ran towards the hockey ground where some labourers were helping girls climb the wall,` she added.

Another student, Sonam Aziz, said her friend sustained injuries to her abdomen when trying to scale the barbed wire.

`Another one of my friends injured her leg during the stampede and was taken to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital,` she said.

A housewife living near Sir Syed Chowk said it took her two hours to find her 10-yearold daughter af ter she rushed to get her when she heard the news.Mohammad Taugeer said it took him a long time to get to his children`s school because of a long traffic jam at Kutchery Chowk.

The news had terrified Moeen Ahmed and his wife who ran to the school. There was chaos in their children`s school, Mr Ahmed said.

What added to the confusion was the police chasing car thieves near Chaklala where VVIP security had been put in place for Queen Maxima of the Netherlands who was visiting the main office of the Benazir Income Support Programme in Chaklala Scheme III with her delegation.

The police were told of a car theft that the thieves were headed towards the heavily guarded Ammar Chowk.

A traffic warden at the chowlc spotted the stolen vehicle and a sub-inspector deployed on VVIP security duty tried to get the thieves to surrender. Both the car thief and a motorcyclist believed to have been the accomplice of and escorting the car thief, got away.

The thieves, fleeing towards the college, fired into the air, City Police Officer Israr Abbasi said.However, Regional Police Officer Mohammad Wisal Fakhar Sultan Raja told Dawn that no gunshots were fired by the auto thieves or by the police outside of the women`s college.

News of firing around the college spread and was aired on television, sparking panic among parents who hurried to bring back their children from schools across the city.

Educationalinstitutions closed theirgates and did not allow students to leave without their parents and at some schools including Government Zeenaat Sikanderia Girls School, Government Girls High School No. 2 on Murree Road, Government Girls High School Marrir Hassan and Government MC School in Raja Bazaar there were minor fights between parents and school administration over this.

After the education department issued directives, schools and colleges were closed and parents were allowed to take their children home.

`I started getting calls from school administrations about the rush of parents outside their buildings and after discussing the matter with local administration, I told them todeclare a half holiday on Wednesday, Executive District Officer Education Qazi Zahoorul Haq said, though he claimed there were no fights between parents and school administrations.

However, Director Colleges Humayun Iqbal said that educational institutions will remain open on Thursday.

As they came to know about the incident, traders closed down their shops on Tipu Road, around Sir Syed Chowk and adjoining areas. Nearby roads were blocked by law enforcement agencies Director Colleges Humayun Iqbal said the CCTV footage from the college has been handed over to the army and the police for further investigations. He said the motorcycle rider was clearly visible in the footage.

`Some good also came out of the incident because we now l
The women`s college has been categorised `A` by security agencies in surveys after the attack on Bacha Khan University in Charssadda.