For four years of my university life, I missed a platform to raise my voice and
groom my leadership skills; the platform which happens to be a democratic right
of every student and is popularly known as "student union" had been
banned from functioning during the Zia-ul-Haq era. Since then the students
union offices turned into stores piled up with office records or furniture
(mostly used by rival student groups in clashes) at all public sector
universities in the country.
Imposing a decision without proper planning and consideration has
been the hallmark of all the governments in Pakistan; likewise, banning the
student unions was a decision that deprived the youngsters from getting good
leaders, as a result of which we see incompetent leadership all around us.
No use staying mum
University being the highest seat of learning is the final
institute that prepares an individual for the society. It is this place where a
student studies society and gets a chance to push back the frontier of human
ignorance. Hence, one of the prime objectives of research is to find a solution
to existing social problems but unfortunately our universities have failed to
do so. Leaving few private universities aside, the public universities are on a
gradual decline, losing their worth with every passing day. In some disciplines
they might be at par with global or regional standards, but as far as producing
motivated and determined citizens is considered, their performance remains
depressing. There are countless issues revolving around public universities
ranging from the recent controversy about the status of the HEC to several
campus issues, and along all these problems, the absence of a democratic
student body on campus is a major dilemma.
Being a beneficiary of a public sector university, I believe
the absence of student unions isn’t as big a matter as is the presence of
student wings of political parties. The student unions were not banned because
they failed to achieve their targets. It was done solely due to the violence which claimed many lives. The situation deteriorated over a number of years as these
student political wings got stronger and stronger. Ultimately, they created
such a complete mess that they had to be banned. All that remains of the
student unions is the memory of hostility they left behind.
With no inclination towards any particular union, it has been my
observation for the last four years that the IJT has apparently been most
active in campaigns to restore student unions. On this, issue Bilal Zuhaib, who
belongs to the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation (APMSO), was asked
why the APMSO does not do much to restore the unions. He said that the APMSO is
also in favour of restoring unions, but "it is the VC who has to do it -
not us." He stresses the fact that the administration has to be impartial
before restoring unions.
Apolitical platform
In the debate whether student unions should be restored or not,
the neutral students, who, in strength outnumber the combined students
affiliated to any political, religious or linguist group suffer the most. Students
affiliated with any ‘party’ can get their things done via force, but neutral
students who are far more talented usually fail to play their part as there is
no platform through which they can register their problems. Ms Azadi Fateh, who
has been a student at KU and is now a faculty member at the Federal Urdu
University of Science & Technology, believes that the restoration of
student unions has become a complex issue. The universities, at times, are
unable to provide security to teachers. Especially, it is the examination
department that remains under most pressure. Over time, teachers have developed
their own tactics to deal with these dangerous student groups. Hina Mujeeb
Alam, an active student who struggled for four years to make KU an apolitical zone
remarks that these student political wings are the prime reason for all the
problems on campus. "They are the self declared guardians of all campus
affairs. Without having any official status these groups rule the campus.
Students not affiliated with any group cannot even imagine confronting them,
and even the teachers follow the dictation given to them by these groups,"
discloses Hina.
In a meeting hed at the Governor House in October last year, a
delegation of the KU students complained about this issue. "I pointed out
to the governor that the group belonging to his party is also responsible for
trouble on campus, to which the governor humbly agreed, but so far no action
has been taken to curb these groups in KU," remarks Hina.
"In our tims, the student unions were the nursing grounds for
leaders, but now there is so much politics in everything that restoring the
unions can pave way for the political groups to engage in more aggressive
politics on campus, and to avert such a situation, it is better that the unions
remain banned," comments Professor Dr. Mahmood Ghaznavi, who is a faculty
member at KU and was a student leader before the unions were banned in 1984.
To be or not to be
In this scenario it
becomes difficult to predict whether history will repeat itself, in case the
unions are restored or not. There are hardly any chances that the political
parties would realise their responsibility and make their students obey the
laws made by the university. Expecting this would be like expecting the
political parties of Pakistan to stop exploiting the poor and working together
in the larger interest of the nation … in short, not possible, at least for
now.
Does this mean that student unions will never be restored and our
students will remain deprived of their rights? These political groups who have
transcended all limits of indecency will keep impairing our educational
institutions. Whether we like it or not, this is what the ground realities
reflect.
The conditions… still the same
In his first speech to the nation, the PM announced the decision
of restoring student and trade unions, but unfortunately all the public
sector universities in the country are not ready for taking this step, as they
believe it’s risky and would result in further mismanagement. Not that it is
helping the educational institutes, it’s the other way round, yet it seems like
the authorities are too scared to bring a change.
Another interesting oint is that unlike other social, political
and economic spheres, in which we as a nation follow the West blindfolded, in
this important matter we don’t. We have not realised the immense loss it has
continuously been causing us. In the United Kingdom, nearly all the
student unions of the colleges and universities are members of the
National Union of Students, and through NUS students represent their
views to a whole range of external organisations, like the media and even the
Parliament. Whereas in Pakistan, the students on campus are
exploited by the other students and do not realise that they are being used for
political objectives. Ironically, there are a number of students who are not
‘allowed’ to get into public universities as their parents fear for their
lives. Such remarks indicate that students who actually study there are
probably not safe.
The entire charm of
studying at a university, particularly at the large public sector universities,
has been dimmed. Now going to a university is almost like going to some skill
learning centre, and undoubtedly clerks after clerks are being produced. And
then, we blame we don’t have educated leaders. Just think about who’s at fault
here.
General Zia Ul Haque was responsible for banning the student
unions. It is believed that Zia encouraged rivalry between pro-regime groups,
allowing each one to carve out its own fiefdom and turn campuses into a no go
area for its rivals. In Karachi and Lahore, hostels were allowed to be used as
arsenals as well as places where one armed group confined and tortured the
activists of the other group. The idea was to keep the students’ groups
fighting against one another instead of uniting against the dictator. After
Zia, the unions remained banned but killings still remain a regular occurring.
In fact, now guns and hockey sticks have been replaced by bombings. Remember
the incident where a hand bomb was used in the KU in December 2010? Hitting the
students with bottles, sticks or even opening fire on them seems like normal.
It makes a concerned student like me wonder whether the unions will ever be
restored again. The genuinely concerned students are left with only one option:
to get their degrees and fly away and let things be the way they are, which
reminds me of a line uttered by Plato:
Those who refuse to participate in
politics are destined to be ruled by their inferiors.
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