Student groups turned into gangs

Punjab University has been the epicentre of brutal clashes between two student groups who took their rivalries too far. The members of the Pakhtun and Baloch Council as well as the Islami Jamiat Tulba (IJT) have been rightfully reprimanded through arrests and expulsions. However, this is a question of whether the handling of the situation will deter future cases. It is also a call for better administrative oversight and the need to consider disbanding organisations for disturbing the peace.

Greater oversight on the boiling tensions could have prevented the situation altogether; the new student festival should have been postponed or cancelled. Time and again, student organisations on university campuses across the country have demonstrated violence and an utter lack of maturity. Weak policies on conflict-resolution have caused heated and deadly debates. Groups found to be causing disturbances should have their registrations cancelled. The ruckus they create overshadows any work members achieve as an organisation because they fail to understand their roles and purpose. They merely partake in organisations as if they were actually gangs. Punjab University must at least consider suspending the implicated organisations. However, with the Anti-Terrorism Act needing to be enforced in this situation, groups should be disbanded to set an example to other student groups.

Enhanced security and better police vigilance from the get-go could have also thwarted the clashes between the IJT and the Council. One also cannot help but notice that from the images and videos, most of the vandals are male, as is typically the case. This should engender a discourse on boys and aggression to reflect on whether we impart adequate emotional intelligence to our youth. For example, the social construct of disallowing boys to cry because they are boys must be eschewed and instead, all children should be allowed to practise expressing the various emotions that comprise the human condition. Since violence has become a pedestrian occurrence, there needs to be long-term planning on how to prevent such situations.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2018.

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