Lahore, Mar 16 (PTI) Around 21 students of Pakistan's Punjab University here were injured, some of them critically, when they clashed with members of a radical Islamic outfit who objected to a boy and a girl sitting together.

A girl and a boy were seen sitting at a canteen outside the Gender Studies Department on Tuesday, when members of the Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) asked them to leave.

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When they objected, one of the IJT members slapped the boy, a university official said.

Other students stepped in and they first tried to stop the IJT members from harassing the boy and the girl. But it soon escalated into a full-blown clash.

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Some of the students were armed with iron and wooden rods, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Most of the students were admitted to a nearby hospital after suffering head injuries. So far, two students were arrested, police said. The Punjab University has more than 30,000 students in its rolls.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)