In 1948, Quaid-e-Azam addressed students at Islamia College Peshawar. One of his words was “develop a sound sense of discipline, character, initiative and a solid academic background. You must devote yourself whole-heartedly to your studies, for that is your first obligation to yourselves, your parents and to the state. You must learn to obey for only then you can learn to command.” It was a time when Pakistan was struggling to meet the demands of the world for competing. All the pillars were yet to be formed and it was time to build foundations with enthusiasm and integrity. We were revolving around the external affairs and it was time to get out of that anxiety orbit. It was high time to Students were urged to remain focused on their target and it was only and only to be involved in studies rather than becoming part of any specific group, class or party.
Though we can see active part of students in Pakistan movement lead by The Muslim Students Federation and even after the freedom they became a key player against any violence like the student unions when formed, they protested vibrantly against the regime of Ayub Khan. Till that they were accepted to some extent as they were playing a positive role in defending their rights and were a pivotal source to stand against any atrocity. These were unions and there was no discrimination among them based on region and caste. Healthy activities were their priorities and a neutral approach was indulged in their minds. They were representative of youth in true meanings. The basic purpose of the student unions is to examine the premises at campuses and they help out administration whenever a sensitive and crucial decision is taken.
In 1993, the Supreme Court banned as they were considered the right hand of political parties but what happened after that was trepid. Those unions changed their forms into councils and these councils are still existing. These councils are now not a representative of students rather than they are promoting culture, norms, and activities based on caste and area. These councils disagree with the concept of nationalism and they only vow for the rights of their specific. Every group or councils seem to fight at any level but when asked to be united, they nullify every argument. Hatred among them is at peak and one council cannot bear the existence of other over a minute issue. This is weakening our campus management. When these students nourish these councils, they then implement the same ideologies in their professional life too and the merit system seems to be shameful over these thoughts.
The country is in a situation where we want productive youth to tackle with same external affairs which always suppress our integrity and then we see our main power, the youth in the form of students, has involved itself in disturbing internal integrity and they are brainwashed to be biased for their shells. It is not a scenario of every campus but the majority of them are a part of this filthy propaganda.
12th of December when two of the councils (Islami Jamiat Talba and Saraiki Students Council) at Islamic International University, fight with each other, injuring many students, is a view of this tragedy. It doesn’t matter what was the reason but it does matter that was the conclusion of this fight and what type of image it has presented that our students are involved in such activities when the nation is expecting them to hold the responsibilities.
Now the only way to get out of this muddled situation, there is a need to revive the previous mechanism based on unions but with proper rules and regulations assembled by the National Assembly along with the support of educational institutes to set up a balanced system. Students should not be a part of any political regime or opposition nor the discriminative representation. Students should be empowered but this power must be restricted on some points. Their main objective is education and not even a single point of these unions betray them from their focus. Legal bodies work on creating such a platform for these unions where they contribute to productive activities and they must be utilized where their role is needed.
Students Union can break the chain of feudal and hereditary politics by establishing such a system where youth from lower or middle-class family is given a chance of leadership and then they devote themselves in that politics which is favorable for country. We can see Ahsan Iqbal, Liaqat Baloch, Jahangir Badar and many more who came up from this system. So Students should play a part in politics but not in issue-based politics. After banning Unions, violence has been hiked to a great extent, so their restoration would overcome ever-increasing harassment cases on campuses too.
Discussion is the best way to resolve issues rather than the use of weapons in student’s hands. For that purpose, there is an immediate response required that would favor not only this class but the whole state.