The university has always remained in a tug of war like situation when it comes to the IJT and the administration
LAHORE: Ironically, during the past few years, the University of Punjab (PU) has got more space in the media, not because of any educational achievements, but due to the seminars held by the administration and protests by the Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) organised on campus. The university has always remained in a tug of war like situation when it comes to the IJT and the administration. Both parties try to gain the upper hand through different tactics, which disrupt educational activities. The IJT supposedly has an agenda of fighting for the rights of students and tries to gain support from the student body, sometimes even by force. On the other hand, the university administration arranges an unusual number of seminars on campus. The sole purpose of these seminars is to gather political support for top officials of the administrative staff. While these seminars are held for students and funds for the seminars are received in the name of students, the beneficiary is always the administration.
Whenever a protest by the IJT or seminars by administration are held, there are no classes. It should be noted that both seminars and protests are held throughout the year. This is the reason why the PU has earned a bad name in the media. Recently, a seminar was held in the PU auditorium in memory of a recently deceased journalist. No classes were held in the Institute of Communication Studies and in the Education Department and many students were forced into attending the seminar and their attendance was marked there. Many such incidents have occurred in the past where the purpose of the seminar was to get support and strengthen the reputation of the top university officials. If the purpose of such seminars is to foster some kind of academic training, then that purpose is not being met. Academically, the PU has been destroyed by the activities of the administration and the IJT. We should call a spade a spade because it isn’t just the IJT which is causing unrest on the campus. The administration is also equally responsible.
Syed Imtiaz Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2015.
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