The recent crackdown on student groups at the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad has again brought the issue of student unions into spotlight.
The Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) was closed down after student groups clashed with each other on February 27. Rangers were asked to take charge of security. The students initially welcomed the university administrations’ tough action to control on-campus violence. But they were disappointed when male and female hostelites were expelled from their rooms at midnight and many students were arrested.
The administration is using the current situation as an opportunity to implement far-reaching ‘reforms’, such as a new hostel policy, rustications, and demolition of shops around the QAU campus, usually referred to as huts. The Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) is using the current situation to maximize influence over the QAU student by offering them free hostels.
It seems the country’s premier public university is headed for a hard-right turn. The IJT is gearing up to fill the power vacuum left behind by the QAU administration’s crackdown on councils infamous for on-campus violence. The newly appointed vice chancellor is known to have a pro-IJT stance.
Before the Zia era, universities and colleges in Pakistan enjoyed a vibrant culture of politics, dominated by the progressive National Students Federation. Students were politically aware and actively participated in student union elections. This culture came to an end in the Zia years with the state extending support to the IJT to end Zia’s opposition as well as progressive politics in educational institutes. It ultimately resulted in an increase of on-campus violence and armed attacks by student groups. Such disruptive incidents were used as an excuse to ban student unions in 1984 and outlawing of political activity on campuses.
The ban was followed by an intense two decades of depoliticisation of students, accompanied by militarisation and support of right-wing groups like the IJT. Generally, most universities right-wing extremist student groups dominated student politics. The student that did not ascribe to their view formed independent councils.
Councils are ostensibly apolitical groups, particularly at the QAU. They are governed by politics of patronage, personal projection, and inter and intra-group rivalries over petty issues. They have long tormented students and owners of businesses operating on the QAU campus with frequent fights, harassment of students and general entitlement. According to an owner of a huts, the accumulated pending bill of meals and services availed by councils’ office holders is over one crore rupees.
In the absence of political education and awareness, on-campus politics is reduced to petty fights and protocol culture. They are a manifestation of politics in an ideologically bankrupt and oppressive environment.
Councils in the QAU comprise male students on ethnic basis. They frequently use violent means to maintain monopoly. They are unaccountable and not represented by a majority of student population. Their election processes are undemocratic. They frequently engage in turf wars. In all of this, they are different from student unions.
The solution to ending violence on the QAU campus is not to suppress them but to open space for a more democratic representation of students where representatives are accountable and serve interests of students. In the past, student unions – which have been outlawed for four decades now – served this purpose. The only solution is to restore unions so students do not rely on inadequate mechanisms of councils.
The QAU is becoming unaffordable with fees increasing every year but no improvement in the quality of education or facilities. The buildings are aging, paint is peeling and facilities are outdated. The obsession with discipline and keeping the campus apolitical has given rise to a student population that gravitates to ideologically bankrupt politics of councils.
Unions may put an end to this mess and allow students to push for measures that improve the quality of education, provision of student accommodation, and gender, religious and ethnic discrimination.
In our dysfunctional political system, student unions are doubly important since they serve as microcosms of how democracies work. Complete with election campaigns, promises, and voting which instill democratic values in the youth which is doubly important due to Pakistan’s huge youth bulge.
The Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) was closed down after student groups clashed with each other on February 27. Rangers were asked to take charge of security. The students initially welcomed the university administrations’ tough action to control on-campus violence. But they were disappointed when male and female hostelites were expelled from their rooms at midnight and many students were arrested.
The administration is using the current situation as an opportunity to implement far-reaching ‘reforms’, such as a new hostel policy, rustications, and demolition of shops around the QAU campus, usually referred to as huts. The Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) is using the current situation to maximize influence over the QAU student by offering them free hostels.
It seems the country’s premier public university is headed for a hard-right turn. The IJT is gearing up to fill the power vacuum left behind by the QAU administration’s crackdown on councils infamous for on-campus violence. The newly appointed vice chancellor is known to have a pro-IJT stance.
Before the Zia era, universities and colleges in Pakistan enjoyed a vibrant culture of politics, dominated by the progressive National Students Federation. Students were politically aware and actively participated in student union elections. This culture came to an end in the Zia years with the state extending support to the IJT to end Zia’s opposition as well as progressive politics in educational institutes. It ultimately resulted in an increase of on-campus violence and armed attacks by student groups. Such disruptive incidents were used as an excuse to ban student unions in 1984 and outlawing of political activity on campuses.
Councils in the QAU comprise male students on ethnic basis. They frequently use violent means to maintain monopoly. They are unaccountable and not represented by a majority of student population. Their election processes are undemocratic. They frequently engage in turf wars. In all of this, they are different from student unions.
The ban was followed by an intense two decades of depoliticisation of students, accompanied by militarisation and support of right-wing groups like the IJT. Generally, most universities right-wing extremist student groups dominated student politics. The student that did not ascribe to their view formed independent councils.
Councils are ostensibly apolitical groups, particularly at the QAU. They are governed by politics of patronage, personal projection, and inter and intra-group rivalries over petty issues. They have long tormented students and owners of businesses operating on the QAU campus with frequent fights, harassment of students and general entitlement. According to an owner of a huts, the accumulated pending bill of meals and services availed by councils’ office holders is over one crore rupees.
In the absence of political education and awareness, on-campus politics is reduced to petty fights and protocol culture. They are a manifestation of politics in an ideologically bankrupt and oppressive environment.
Councils in the QAU comprise male students on ethnic basis. They frequently use violent means to maintain monopoly. They are unaccountable and not represented by a majority of student population. Their election processes are undemocratic. They frequently engage in turf wars. In all of this, they are different from student unions.
The solution to ending violence on the QAU campus is not to suppress them but to open space for a more democratic representation of students where representatives are accountable and serve interests of students. In the past, student unions – which have been outlawed for four decades now – served this purpose. The only solution is to restore unions so students do not rely on inadequate mechanisms of councils.
The QAU is becoming unaffordable with fees increasing every year but no improvement in the quality of education or facilities. The buildings are aging, paint is peeling and facilities are outdated. The obsession with discipline and keeping the campus apolitical has given rise to a student population that gravitates to ideologically bankrupt politics of councils.
Unions may put an end to this mess and allow students to push for measures that improve the quality of education, provision of student accommodation, and gender, religious and ethnic discrimination.
In our dysfunctional political system, student unions are doubly important since they serve as microcosms of how democracies work. Complete with election campaigns, promises, and voting which instill democratic values in the youth which is doubly important due to Pakistan’s huge youth bulge.