LAHORE - The Government MAO College was closed down following a shoot out between two student groups on Monday morning who wanted to gain control of the student office of the college. The rival groups resorted to aerial firing for over an hour which spread panic among the students. The students studying in classrooms including some girls at the BCom-IT classes remained in virtual hostage while students at the postgraduate block ran helter-skelter and soon the college was emptied. The rival groups also resorted to violence causing injuries to a number of students. Bilal Azam Bhatti, a former student of Mass Communication of the college was mercilessly beaten who received multiple injuries. The rival groups tried to occupy rival students' and principal's office when the clashed occurred. College Principal Prof Chaudhry Mohammad Khan closed down the college on the direction of authorities for another two days while the academic session was likely to end by the middle of next month. According to reports, as the college opened in the morning around 8:00 am, some 40/50 persons led by Tanvir Khakwani, an ex-leader of PSF and a former student of the same college, Humayun Butt, a former leader of MSF and others entered the college and forcibly tried to occupy the offices of the rival group led by Shahid Sheikh, Afzaal Sultan Gujjar, Iqbal Khan and Shahid Chaudhry. They opened fire and harassed the students. Later the aerial firing continued for an hour between both the groups. The police was informed but it could not enter the college premises during the clash. However, the miscreants escaped from the rear gate. The police led by SHO Islampura Safdar Raza Kazmi, DSP Anarkali and S P city Ahmad Hassan cordoned off the building and entered the college and took control of the situation. In the meantime, the traffic on the Lower Mall road remained suspended for two hours. The college students protesting the incident also burnt at the road opposite to MAO College. As a result of clash, the internal examination of BA, BSc, Part I scheduled on Monday was cancelled while the 9th class examination of the Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education inside the college classrooms continued unabated and the students took the paper. They were later given safe passage out of the classrooms as the situation remained tense. The evening session of the 9th class examination, starting from 2:00 pm also took place under the strict police vigilance. The students accompanied by their parents and guardians came to the college to appear in the examination following news of clashes and disturbance carried live by electronic media. Principal Mohammad Khan said that he had not yet reached the office when the incident took place. He said he did not acknowledge who were intruders and what was their intention. The principal also lodged a complaint to the police. The students also lodged a complaint to the police for registration of case. A student representative of the college said that the students of MA Urdu and English registered a protest by boycotting the classes a few days ago when the department heads were changed by the college administration. They were planning a widespread agitation when the new situation was created by the outsiders. Another report said that the boycott of classes had nothing to do with the Monday incident. It was a clash between two groups to exercise influence in the college. An inquiry was also underway regarding embezzlement of tuition fee by the unscrupulous persons operating in the college of dozens of BCom-IT students. The MSF president Rana Arshad, general secretary Punjab Ch Azam and others in a statement strongly condemned the incident. They said that MSF had no connection with either of the rival groups who clashed with each other. They said that non-students have polluted the environment in the college for their vested interests. They said that they were not responsible for worsening the situation in the college.