Student unions should be restored in every province like Sindh: Bilawal

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday said that the younger generation was fully prepared to challenge the PTI-led federal government and fight to oust the “incompetent and illegitimate prime minister who has been imposed on them”.

He said the time was ripe for the young people to lead the country from the front against the “decayed and frustrated elements having no sanity and sense of responsibility”.

He was speaking at a student's convention under the aegis of Sindh People's Student Federation (SPSF) at the Karachi Arts Council Auditorium.

Bilawal said that the SPSF office-bearers and workers through years of unshaken nerve-writhing struggle have acquired the right to form a union of which they had been deprived by former military dictator General Ziaul Haque.

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He said that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, during her first term, had restored the student unions along with the labour unions, but under a conspiracy, PPP's government was toppled and the regime that followed imposed a ban on student unions.

The PPP chairman said that any 18-year-old could participate in the election of the prime minister, meaning he could choose the premier of the country, be prepared to fight in war situations, by taking up arms against India but when it comes to choosing his own representative, he has no choice left for a change.

He said that Pakistanis got this country not as a result of any war or violence but as a result of a peaceful democratic struggle under the leadership of Quaid-e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

He said that former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gave the precious gift to the nation in form of democracy and gave every citizen the right to vote. He was of the view that the biggest atrocity against the youth of this country was that an attempt was made to suppress their voice.

Bilawal lamented that young people aren't allowed to talk about their own problems. "Some frustrated elements are predominantly obsessed with a negative idea that country's youth shouldn't get involved in mainstream politics," he added.

He said that they are the advocates of zero politics in universities as if doing politics is either a bad taboo or a crime. "Doing politics is the right of the youth and doing politics is their most powerful weapon."

The PPP chairman said that the youth with right to vote and do politics is more powerful than tanks and armoured vehicles because they can change the entire scenario which tanks can't.

He said that we wonder why there is so much violence and barbarism in our society, adding that the politics of religion and ethnicity get space because student unions were banned.

By banning student politics for their own benefit, Bilawal said, some elements not only harmed the youth of country's academic institutions such as colleges and universities but also inflicted irreparable loss to the society.

He said that the ever-escalating fee graph of educational institutions is naked to all eyes. "The way the state is being run, and graduates are being deprived of jobs opportunities instead of creating job opportunities, the students will now speak and draw attention to such issues."

The PPP chairman said that cases of harassment are being reported from educational institutions, but it was a great injustice that those cases would be investigated by those who belonged to the same institution and they won't do justice at all.

Also read: ‘Govt to fall soon, start preparing for election’: Bilawal to party leaders

"Student unions are our first step, and when the students are organised, they will fight for the solution of their problems, but if there is a PPP government, you will run the government yourself," he added.

Bilawal said that since he took over the organisational responsibility, the PPP's priority is the public health system, adding that despite limited resources, it has created world-class institutions in the field of health.

He shared his dream to establish more institutions like NICVD and Gombat. "We will also equally work in the field of education."

He pointed out that most of the universities in the country were established during the PPP government. "We will work harder and strive for 100 per cent free of cost education in future government educational institutions. Though, not possible to achieve this target overnight but since we are dynamic young people so we will try hard for it. Our goal is to establish at least one university or campus in each district over the next five years," he added.

Highlighting his party's future plans, he said that his government would set up youth centres in every district, providing space for cultural and sports activities as well as career counselling. "Students work hard to get a degree, but then they also need career counselling."

He said that it was being propagated all over the country that the PPP needed feuds and elites, while they did not know that the PPP was in fact a party of the SPSF. "The fact is that the feuds need PPP, instead."

He further said that the February 27 march of the party will carry the demand of restoration of students union all over Pakistan.