A teacher at a reputable college in Pakistan’s Punjab province was stabbed to death by a student for organizing a co-ed party. Reports say the attacker believed the inclusion of females at the event was vulgar and blasphemous.

Students were gathering in order to plan a “farewell party” when their classmate sprang on English language professor Khalid Hameed and began to stab him in the stomach. While the others rushed to their teacher’s assistance and tackled their classmate to the ground, Hameed’s wounds were already too severe, and he died en route to the hospital. Tragically, he was scheduled to retire in just four months.

Sickening extremism this! Professor Khalid Hameed of SE College Bahawalpur, stabbed to death by his student Khateeb for organising a welcome party deemed "vulgar" and "un-Islamic" by him. Professor's sin? He encouraged female students to participate in extracurricular activities. pic.twitter.com/Kl0dn9eGVu — Naila Inayat नायला इनायत (@nailainayat) March 20, 2019

“My father then fell down and I rushed to him; the student held his knife and started shouting ‘I have killed him, I had told him that a gender mix reception is against Islam’,” Hameed’s son Waleed Khan, who had dropped his father off at the office and witnessed the attack, told AFP. In a cruel twist, he revealed his father wasn’t even involved in organizing the event.

A note has been making the rounds on social media which was allegedly written by a group of students enraged over the decision to include women in the get-together. Local channel Samaa TV says that male and female students were supposed to take part in a folk dance, and the group fumed that it was “promoting vulgarity,” claiming that “Islam doesn’t allow it.”

A group of students wrote this letter to the DCO Bahawalpur before Professor Hameed's murder demanding that 'vulgar' practices not be allowed to take place at the college. It appears strongly that there was a group behind this crime and not a lone attacker. pic.twitter.com/Fyu7qkzmgk — Ziad Zafar (@ziadzafar) March 20, 2019

While police were still checking if the attacker was a member of any extremist group, they said he considered the dance to be “un-Islamic.”

“Apparently, the accused has no link to any religious group but we are investigating about his past and the reasons behind his mindset,” said local police representative Farhan Hussain. The student is currently in police custody, and will be charged with murder.

The attack took place at Sadiq Egerton College in Bahawalpur, a school where women outnumber men two-to-one, a rarity in the conservative Pakistani education system. Several women on Twitter saw the murder as an expression of the country’s deep-rooted discriminatory attitude.

Khlid Hameed an associate Professor of S.E college Bahawalpur is brutally killed by his Student on the name of Islam.! The impatience in youth is on other level. Who's responsible? Who's cultivating their minds to extremism? pic.twitter.com/s2vHOvYu97 — Aroosa Farooki (@aroosa_farooki) March 20, 2019

The thorns you sow will prick your own feet. #RehmanBabaTeacher stabbed to death by his student; #Mashal lynched by students in broad daylight...There is no doubt the State is responsible...#Pak State has invested heavily in radicalising the education system—expected outcome. — Bushra Gohar (@BushraGohar) March 20, 2019

Campus radicalisation is an issue that apparently no one in Pakistan seems to care about. Lack of action by successive regimes has only empowered religious organisations that operate freely on campuses. — Naila Inayat नायला इनायत (@nailainayat) March 20, 2019

Meanwhile, the victim’s son said he believes the attack occurred as a result of “brainwashing.” He also lashed out at the government for seemingly allowing radical views to flourish.

“I demand justice,” Waleed told media. “I am feeling threatened. We have not been given security.”

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