Restoring student unions
Student unions are the first step towards participation in national politics and the grooming of future leaders
Students shouting slogans for restoration of Student's Union during Students Solidarity March, organised by Student's Action Committee, Women Democratic Front and others. PHOTO: ONLINE
A recent clash between two student groups at the International Islamic University in Islamabad has led to one death and 29 injuries. The incident follows closely in the heels of the incidents of violence by lawyers in Lahore. This unfortunate event has put a question mark on the earlier proposal to restore student unions in universities across the country.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had expressed the government’s willingness to allow the restoration of student unions subject to the establishment of a comprehensive and enforceable code of conduct. “Universities groom future leaders of the country and student unions form an integral part of this grooming,” tweeted the PM. Referring to the student unions of the past, the PM said that they had become “violent battlegrounds and completely destroyed the intellectual atmosphere on campuses”.
While the PM is quite correct in observing that unions across the world help groom future leaders, he has been misled into believing that it was unions that facilitated violent battlegrounds and destroyed the intellectual atmosphere at campuses. In fact, the opposite has been the case.
Shehnila Zardari, a faculty member at NED University, rightly observes that in Pakistan, unfortunately, student unions have come to be associated with political violence on campuses. In an article which appeared recently, she commented, “This was not so in the past when universities across the country used to have very active and vibrant student unions. The Muslim Students Federation, a student wing of the All India Muslim League, played an important role in the Pakistan Movement. Even after Partition, the country witnessed significant events with regard to the demonstration of students’ politics of resistance. Had the students not protested valiantly against the Ayub Khan regime, it would have been unlikely that he would have resigned.”
In my interviews with the late Mairaj Muhammad Khan, veteran politician and one time student leader, the role of the student unions in ousting dictatorship came out quite well. We also know that acknowledging their power in being able to affect national politics, General Ziaul Haq banned student unions. Despite this ban, the Jamaat-i-Islami’s student wing, the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT), continued to flourish. General Zia had turned a blind eye to the IJT because the mother party had supported his Islamisation programme. Another fact is that the IJT, because of its presence on most campuses, has been involved in one incident of violence or another.
Today, as we see that the politics of the left is almost dead and buried, it is the right-wing parties that are fighting for their space on our campuses. The IJT was first challenged by the Muslim Students Federation (MSF) and now by the student wing of the Tehreek-e-Insaf on a national level. On the provincial level, we have a collection of ethnic groupings also vying for space. The most important lesson is that while it is widely believed that the presence of student unions brings violence on campuses, the very fact that violence keeps on erupting in universities, despite a ban on student unions, negates that notion.
But the question now is: who will take the bold step of strengthening the roots of democracy in this country? Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, too, had declared his intention of reviving student unions in his first parliamentary address in 2008. But nothing came of it.
The Senate took up the matter in 2017 and passed a resolution calling for the restoration of student unions, terming it a constitutional right. The committee also addressed the ban imposed by a 1993 Supreme Court verdict, saying that the restoration of students’ representative bodies would not be in violation of it. Recently, the Sindh Assembly passed a unanimous resolution along the same lines, and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari spoke in favour of the issue.
What is interesting is that the politicians’ willingness has not been translated into action. Also, student wings — that operate with impunity on university campuses — of various political parties are often confused with unions. Hopefully, the ‘code of conduct’ proposed by our PM will, besides formulating the rules for establishing unions, also make clear the distinction between elected unions and other groups led by students.
Student unions are the first step towards participation in national politics and the grooming of future leaders. We need to support their restoration at the earliest.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2019.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had expressed the government’s willingness to allow the restoration of student unions subject to the establishment of a comprehensive and enforceable code of conduct. “Universities groom future leaders of the country and student unions form an integral part of this grooming,” tweeted the PM. Referring to the student unions of the past, the PM said that they had become “violent battlegrounds and completely destroyed the intellectual atmosphere on campuses”.
While the PM is quite correct in observing that unions across the world help groom future leaders, he has been misled into believing that it was unions that facilitated violent battlegrounds and destroyed the intellectual atmosphere at campuses. In fact, the opposite has been the case.
Shehnila Zardari, a faculty member at NED University, rightly observes that in Pakistan, unfortunately, student unions have come to be associated with political violence on campuses. In an article which appeared recently, she commented, “This was not so in the past when universities across the country used to have very active and vibrant student unions. The Muslim Students Federation, a student wing of the All India Muslim League, played an important role in the Pakistan Movement. Even after Partition, the country witnessed significant events with regard to the demonstration of students’ politics of resistance. Had the students not protested valiantly against the Ayub Khan regime, it would have been unlikely that he would have resigned.”
In my interviews with the late Mairaj Muhammad Khan, veteran politician and one time student leader, the role of the student unions in ousting dictatorship came out quite well. We also know that acknowledging their power in being able to affect national politics, General Ziaul Haq banned student unions. Despite this ban, the Jamaat-i-Islami’s student wing, the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT), continued to flourish. General Zia had turned a blind eye to the IJT because the mother party had supported his Islamisation programme. Another fact is that the IJT, because of its presence on most campuses, has been involved in one incident of violence or another.
Today, as we see that the politics of the left is almost dead and buried, it is the right-wing parties that are fighting for their space on our campuses. The IJT was first challenged by the Muslim Students Federation (MSF) and now by the student wing of the Tehreek-e-Insaf on a national level. On the provincial level, we have a collection of ethnic groupings also vying for space. The most important lesson is that while it is widely believed that the presence of student unions brings violence on campuses, the very fact that violence keeps on erupting in universities, despite a ban on student unions, negates that notion.
But the question now is: who will take the bold step of strengthening the roots of democracy in this country? Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, too, had declared his intention of reviving student unions in his first parliamentary address in 2008. But nothing came of it.
The Senate took up the matter in 2017 and passed a resolution calling for the restoration of student unions, terming it a constitutional right. The committee also addressed the ban imposed by a 1993 Supreme Court verdict, saying that the restoration of students’ representative bodies would not be in violation of it. Recently, the Sindh Assembly passed a unanimous resolution along the same lines, and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari spoke in favour of the issue.
What is interesting is that the politicians’ willingness has not been translated into action. Also, student wings — that operate with impunity on university campuses — of various political parties are often confused with unions. Hopefully, the ‘code of conduct’ proposed by our PM will, besides formulating the rules for establishing unions, also make clear the distinction between elected unions and other groups led by students.
Student unions are the first step towards participation in national politics and the grooming of future leaders. We need to support their restoration at the earliest.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2019.