Songs of freedom: Musicians play to lift ban on student unions

Ban was imposed by military dictator Gen Zia in 1984 to ‘depoliticise’ society

ISLAMABAD: The right for students to unionise was heavily stressed by performers and organisers at an event in Islamabad.

Revolutionary songs interspersed with speeches and slogans were presented at “Songs of Freedom” at the Aabpara Community Centre here on Friday.

The event was organised by the National Students Federation (NSF) to reignite the progressive and democratic spirit among students.

Student unions were banned by Gen Ziaul Haq in 1984 in an attempt to suppress expressions of dissent against his dictatorship. Although former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani promised in 2008 to remove the ban, the change never came.

The auditorium was adorned with messages advocating restoration of student unions, end to privatisation and commercialisation of education, purging curricula of religious, ethnic and cultural biases, and overall changes in the sociopolitical system.

Performances included Pukhtun rubab music by Waseem Skahi and Sparlay Rawail, folk music from Hunza-Gojal valley by Sada-e-Pomir ensemble, Punjabi sufi and revolutionary poetry of Bulleh Shah, Faiz and Jalib by Arieb Azhar, Shahram Azhar, Ammar Rashid, Afsheen Baloch, and a performance of the Brazilian martial art and dance Capoeira by Ammar Latif and Sarkash Band.

The audience swayed to the mystic “Duma Dum Mast Qalandar?”, sung by Ammar, Shahram and Wahid Alan Faqir.

Arieb’s performance of Faiz’s timeless “Bol Key Lab Azaad Hain Teray” was also a hit among the audience.

A song dedicated to a jailed Awami Workers Party leader from Hunza — Baba Jan — was also applauded.

NSF organiser Bevarg Baloch said at the event said that there was no justification for the ban on student unions.

“The ban has been to the detriment of students first and foremost, visible in ever-increasing fees, poor quality of education, shrinking transport services, and the on-going privatisation of the education sector,” said NSF organiser Minhaj Swati.

“The ban is part of a broader attempt to depoliticise society so that citizens are unable to mobilise against exploitation,” he added.

“It is a travesty in this day and age when schools are being privatised, university fees are going out of the reach of ordinary people, and distorted history, and cultural, ethnic and religious biases are being taught as a part of the official curriculum, that the ban on student unions still remains in place,” said musician and AWP activist Ammar Rashid.

It is time that Pakistani students shed their Stockholm syndrome, take a cue from their compatriots in JNU, and win back their inviolable right to unionize and organize, for both themselves and wider society, he added.

“Privatisation and exorbitant fees mean the education is increasingly becoming out of reach for most Pakistanis. Debates around education have tended to focus on technical fixes, pushing the false myth that less politics, rather than more, is better for education and better for students. It is this myth that has been part and parcel of a continued ban on student unions and an at times violent crackdown on student politics,” journalist and activist Mehwish Ahmed said.

Minhaj, an NSF organiser said, “Unions are students’ voice. For past thirty years these voices have been silenced, resulting in immense violence at campuses.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2016.