Bombing places of learning

University environments should feel like being in a ‘bubble’ where scholars are untouched from all kinds of...

We are all, by now, immune to a deluge of stories about bomb blasts that have made headlines in local newspapers this year. As 2010 ends and everyone is busy deciding their New Year’s resolutions, another incident is added to the list — the recent attack at the University of Karachi (KU) mosque — and our memories are left further scarred of a troublesome and depressing year.

Was this attack in retaliation to, or perhaps an extension of, the clashes between political parties which operate on the KU’s campus — the Peoples Student Federation and the Imamia Students Organisation — earlier this month? Or was it another one of those ‘obvious’, recent trends of blowing up mosques which makes us feel that even our mosques are not safe?

Whatever the cause for such violence may be, the result is blatantly clear: to discourage students from coming to university. Consequently, exams are postponed for not only currently enrolled university students but also for medical students for whom the KU is an exam centre. On a broader spectrum, the blast is an attack on education in general. As if the presence and violence of political factions within a learning institution is not reason enough for students to stay home, the blasts have completely shaken them emotionally and have hindered them from enthusiastically pursuing education with regular attendance.

These blasts and conflicts are a constant reminder to the nation that any education ‘other than the religious one’ is devilish and not in sync with Islamic values. That it needs to be leashed by such terrorist activities, that it is a divine duty for the righteous — who think that ‘moral policing’ is their responsibility — to stop the minds of our youth being ‘corrupted’ by a ‘western’ form of education.

To say the least, it’s sad to see educational institutions in Pakistan being used as spaces for practicing political agendas, vendetta and blood-shed. This is, indeed, a very tainted version of knowledge that we are giving to our future leaders. This is not what college years should entail for students. If anything, these years are probably the finest in an individual’s life. Institutions ought to be an intellectual cradle to draw knowledge from, not a ground where students’ blood is drawn. A university environment should feel like being in a ‘bubble’ — a good ‘intellectual bubble’ at that — where scholars are untouched from all kinds of personal and political leanings.

Among many others, one of the government’s New Year’s resolutions should be to provide a safe and secure atmosphere for all educational institutions.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2011.