'Student politics had no hidden agendas'
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed
Veteran journalist, former student leader and firebrand activist, Hussain Naqi was born in 1937 in Lucknow, India. After partition, he emigrated to Karachi and joined DJ Science College. He closely observed student politics in Karachi, especially that going on under the banner of Democratic Students Federation (DSF). He also had the privilege of holding senior offices of the National Students Federation (NSF). Naqi was expelled from the University of Karachi on charges of interfering with the affairs of the administration and exiled from Sindh. Along with other NSF members, he staged a massive agitation and was readmitted to Karachi University. Excerpts of interview follow:

'There are very few committed individuals'
By Bilal Tanweer
Mohammad Ali Jan, a student of LUMS, is a member of the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP) and has been involved in grass-root level political activism for three years now.
The News on Sunday: How would you assess the state of student politics at this present moment?

Campus or politics?
The conspicuous absence of idealism says much more about what the state has done to student politics than about student politics itself
By Aasim Sajjad Akhtar
It is a testament to the potential power of student unions that the slightest initiative on major public sector university campuses invites the immediate interest of the omnipotent intelligence agencies. Indeed, all Pakistani regimes uptil and including Zia ul Haq's were obsessed with regulating student activism, relying either on brute force or cooption. By the end of the Zia regime, university and college campuses had been infiltrated by state-supported rightist forces as a result of which student politics has yet to recover.

None for tomorrow
Are the numerous student leaders of the past to blame for the absentees of today? Here's how political leaders respond
By Ammar Mir
It is one thing to be interested in politics, another entirely to take an active, responsible part in the process. Ideology, that most browbeaten of words, is a necessary first step. Many political leaders of today ascribe the formation of their own political ideology to familiar and often similar circumstances. Most attribute the formation of their political ideology to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's movement against Ayub Khan's regime in 1968. The movement involved, it will be recalled, huge numbers from the student community. Others such as Ghulam Abbas put it down to their working class background and growing up watching the sufferings of the common man.

Inactivism!
When Zia declared that he would purge Pakistan of 'the scourge of politics' he meant what he said
By Tariq Bhatti
"In the first few decades of Pakistan's existence, student politics was a symbol of the students' socio-political awareness. But the 1980s and 90s saw the socially sensitive and ideology-based political activism of students transform into the gross manipulation of young minds by self-serving political powers," says former student leader Azizuddin Ahmed.

Zia's stamp
Punjab University, an IJT sanctuary
The Punjab University (PU) has been a hub of student politics for long. Established in 1882, the university is one of the largest and oldest seats of learning in Pakistan. After the country achieved Independence, the student politics at PU revolved around socio-economic issues and those related directly to the welfare of the students.

Baloch cause
Balochistan University's share...
By Muhammad Ejaz Khan
Despite the ban on student politics in the educational institutions of Balochistan, a large number of student organisations (SOs) have been working not only in the University of Balochistan, Quetta, but also all other colleges since decades. Most of them are student wings of politico-religious and nationalist parties. The main student organisation in the province is the Baloch Students' Organisation that has two factions: The student wing of Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) and National Party (NP). There also exists the Pashtoon Students' Organisation (PSO), which is the student wing of Pakhtoon Khwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP). 

'Student politics had no hidden agendas'
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed

Veteran journalist, former student leader and firebrand activist, Hussain Naqi was born in 1937 in Lucknow, India. After partition, he emigrated to Karachi and joined DJ Science College. He closely observed student politics in Karachi, especially that going on under the banner of Democratic Students Federation (DSF). He also had the privilege of holding senior offices of the National Students Federation (NSF). Naqi was expelled from the University of Karachi on charges of interfering with the affairs of the administration and exiled from Sindh. Along with other NSF members, he staged a massive agitation and was readmitted to Karachi University. Excerpts of interview follow:

The News on Sunday: What do you think were the main issues on student unions' agendas during the early years of Pakistan?

Hussain Naqi: The student politics after the partition revolved around issues related directly to the students' affairs. Unlike the student politics of today, there were no hidden agendas pursued by political parties backing student unions in educational institutions. The foremost issue at that time was the lack of education facilities/institutions in the country. The lack of transport facilities for students and the government's reluctance to make education free for the masses were other major problems.

Though the situation was not as bad in Punjab, in Karachi it was dismal. As the city had been declared the capital, people migrated to Karachi in hordes. The population of the city swelled from 0.4 million in 1947 to above a million in 1949. The situation was so worse that a student who got late by a couple of minutes couldn't find a place to sit in the classroom. Similar was the situation in East Pakistan, where a huge number of people had migrated from West Bengal. DSF raised its voice for this cause and had to face the state's wrath.

TNS: Why do you think the government resorted to the use of brute force if the students' protest of 1953 was peaceful? Did DSF meet any of its objectives?

HN: The main problem at that time was that the bureaucrats had become hyperactive. At times they would go to any extent to achieve the desired results. The students' procession was calm but A T Naqvi, the then chief commissioner panicked and asked the police to open fire on the protesters. The demands of the protesters were simple. All they were asking for was establishment of university, colleges and schools, provision of transport and concessions for students and free provision of books. Though these demands were not met immediately, the government took note of them and accepted most of them by 1960.

TNS: You were one of the founder members of NSF? Are the allegations true that this students body was formed to counter DSF?

HN: Yes, there was a common perception that NSF was formed to counter the influence of DSF that had been dissolved by then. After the incident of 1953, different student organisations dissolved themselves and merged to form All Pakistan Students Organisation (APSO). Once again A T Naqvi became active and sent some vagabonds to attack its session. APSO was banned soon after its formation in 1954. The NSF had government support. But soon the government found that 'NSF was also a sore', however it was allowed to operate. This was something that strengthened the perception.

I was on the executive body of NSF when there was an attack on Suez Canal in 1956. NSF gave a protest call against this strike, which was welcomed by many. Thousands of people gathered at Jehangir Park near Mazar-e-Quaid and joined the NSF march. Once the procession reached Bolton Market, it was attacked by police and all of us were beaten brutally. I was also publishing a magazine 'Talib-e-Ilm'. The NSF as well as the publication was banned as soon as martial law was imposed in 1958.

TNS: Tales of your externment from Sindh and direct confrontation with Nawab of Kalabagh are well-known. What were the factors that led to these?

NH: I was at Karachi University in early 1960s when we decided to table a resolution against the Education Commission Report released at that time. NSF workers reached the congregation of PML Conventional arranged by Chaudhry Khaleeq-uz-Zaman and created ruckus there. Because of this, we were pinpointed by the government. I, along with other students, was externed from Karachi University.

We went to different cities of Sindh but were externed from there as well. So, we decided to come to Lahore. There we were picked from the Railway Station and kept in official custody. Later on, we went to Bahawalpur and stayed there in a hostel. My confrontation with Nawab of Kalabagh was for the reason that he had publicly called NSF leaders incompetent. We issued press releases carrying excellent mark sheets of our leaders showing that NSF leadership comprised academically brilliant students.

'There are very few committed individuals'
By Bilal Tanweer

Mohammad Ali Jan, a student of LUMS, is a member of the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP) and has been involved in grass-root level political activism for three years now.

The News on Sunday: How would you assess the state of student politics at this present moment?

Ali Jan: Generally speaking, the state of student politics is marked by stagnancy. There are very few committed individuals and since everyone is pursuing their own ends, there is little or no mass-level action.

TNS: Why do you think there is this stagnancy?

AJ: Part of the reason is that education is highly commercialised now, and because education takes place in small campuses with small student populations, it makes collective action very difficult. Traditionally, the bastions and fountainheads of student politics have been universities with large student bodies, and with large multi-class populations. However, in these private colleges, there are students from middle and upper classes, who have no interaction with students from lower classes. Because of this, it is difficult to form student unions with effective political force.

Then, there was the systematic depoliticisation of the state universities under the Zia era, with increased patronage to the student wings of the right-wing political parties. This has had a devastating effect on student politics and the healthy atmosphere which existed previously.

TNS: People think students shun politics now because of the rampant violence and a simultaneous decline in ideological politics?

AJ: Well, I do not see how one could differentiate between the use of violence and ideology. Forces which resort to violence do that on their own ideological grounds and those who avoid violence, do so on theirs. So, for instance, Imran Khan went around universities trying to make a student union of Tehreek-e Insaaf, and he found a following as well. However, the students immediately asked Imran Khan for guns, because otherwise they would not be able to stand up to the likes of IJT and MQM, whose power derives from the guns they have. But because Imran Khan's ideology is non-violent, he refused and, hence, had to abandon the idea.

Traditionally, Left has used violence as a legitimate means to their ends; but that violence was to serve ends which were justified. Violence was never used by the Left to spread hate or bigotry like it is the case with the forces of the Right.

TNS: So, is this a no-win situation for students as well as for the political culture?

AJ: This is not something which is preordained, or cannot be changed. It is clear from the current judicial crisis that society can become politicised very easily and in a very short time period. Another example is the teachers' protests at the Punjab University. Although they were led by teachers, students soon joined in and took part in the protest. So, I do not think that it is impossible to politicise a student body. Similarly, in the lawyers' movement, law students even in the elite universities have joined in. Students of Punjab Law College, which is owned by the Nazim Lahore Mian Amir Mahmood, have organised protests and teach-ins. So, I think that there is a lot of scope.

TNS: So, what kind of a future do you foresee for progressive student politics in this country?

AJ: I cannot predict the future, but I can say a few things about the current situation, from which a few things could be extrapolated for the future. For one thing, I strongly believe that students have to be at the heart of any sustainable progressive and democratic change in this country. If they do not become a part of it, it will lose its steam. And that is really contingent upon the student participation in progressive politics. If they become a part of progressive politics, we have a bright future; if not, then we will have a few lost generations, to say the least. India is a great example. In India, no student is left untouched in their student years. Every student takes an ideological stance, which leads to a more conscious citizenry as well as better political leaders.

Campus or politics?
The conspicuous absence of idealism says much more about what the state has done to student politics than about student politics itself
By Aasim Sajjad Akhtar

It is a testament to the potential power of student unions that the slightest initiative on major public sector university campuses invites the immediate interest of the omnipotent intelligence agencies. Indeed, all Pakistani regimes uptil and including Zia ul Haq's were obsessed with regulating student activism, relying either on brute force or cooption. By the end of the Zia regime, university and college campuses had been infiltrated by state-supported rightist forces as a result of which student politics has yet to recover.

Students have been a force in popular upheavals around the world, particularly through the turbulent 20th century. Pakistan was no different, with students arguably the most powerful dissident force in the country's cities uptil the Zia period. Indeed it were students that led the mass movement that brought the mighty Ayub regime to its knees. They spearheaded the new mass urban political culture that emerged in Pakistan largely as a product of the contradictions of Ayub's decade of development. Pakistani students of the 1960s were heavily influenced by the global wave of student activism that saw mass mobilisation against the Vietnam War and demanded the restructuring of capitalist society.

In direct contrast to the prevalent trend these days, one was a misfit if one did not participate in activism in that era, regardless of which end of the ideological spectrum one was committed to. State repression was considered a natural hazard that came with the territory, and in the place of fear and trepidation that is now so common amongst students (and young people in general) was a bold commitment to the cause with which one was associated. Importantly, student politics uptil the 1980s was never simply limited to participation in overtly political movements against dictatorship or imperialism. In fact, robust student activism has always centred upon themes concerning students themselves; such as, school fees, living conditions in hostels, and administrative high-handedness. Only when students had successfully taken on such local issues would they move on to participate in wider struggles.

Inevitably, the most organised student fora were linked either directly or indirectly to political organisations or specific ideological tendencies. For example, the biggest student organisation in Pakistan through much of the 1970s, the National Student Federation (NSF), had explicit links with Maoist politics, while the only slightly less organised and popular Democratic Student Federation (DSF) was affiliated with the Communist Party of Pakistan. Part of the justification provided by military rulers such as Zia and Ayub to clamp down upon student politics was that they acted as fronts for political organisations. To a certain extent, the NSF, DSF and other such groups forwarded the agenda of leftist political parties, but at the same time, they were fiercely autonomous, and on more than one occasion student groups overtly broke up ties with political parties if they felt their independence was being compromised.

In any case, after the Bhutto period, student organisations became virtual proxies for mainstream political parties. The examples of the People's Students Federation (Pakistan People's Party), Muslim Students Federation (Pakistan Muslim League) and Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (Jama'at-e-Islami) stand out. In fact, the state was petrified of the revolutionary tendencies of organisations such as the NSF and DSF; it is not abnormal for student unions to have explicit associations with political parties and, in a society where debate and dissent are not considered seditious, the links of student organisations to political parties would not be depicted as scandalous. Needless to say, the prototypical People's Students Federation (PSF), Muslim Students Federation (MSF) and particularly Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) chapter at the present time are hardly models of the student union, but this says much more about what the state has done to student politics than about student politics itself.

It has to be said that the rot in student politics set in during the Bhutto period when the 'people's government' initiated a process of cooption which undermined the autonomy of the unions by doling out patronage. However, it was under Zia that student politics became subject to flagrant attacks. On the one hand, the regime effectively used repression to discourage student activism and, on the other, employed the IJT as its proxy to physically expel Left-oriented groups such as the NSF and DSF from campuses. Under the guise of Islamisation, the student population was terrorised and the overall culture of campuses transformed. There has been no reprieve ever since.

It is worth keeping in mind that a significant number of contemporary national level politicians are student leaders of the past. Javed Hashmi, Jehangir Badr and Liaquat Baloch are but a few of the many who have made their way into politics via student unions. However, there are thousands others who were not allowed to ply their trade on campuses and might not have thrown in their lot with the mainstream parties. Indeed, if a progressive political culture was allowed to survive on college and university campuses, the tendency of our mainstream political parties to acquiesce to a military-dominated political system might not be so pronounced. It is worth considering that political parties will only be as vibrant and responsive as popular demands make them. And with the disappearance of student and trade unions, culture and art, and independent intellectual activity, our political parties too are a shadow of what they should be.

All told, it is not a surprise that the state has prevented the re-emergence of student activism on our campuses. Because of their freedom from the responsibilities that come with adulthood and the idealism of youth, students in the modern era have always been considered a danger to the forces of status quo. In Pakistan, student idealism has been conspicuous by its absence over the past two and a half decades, and the state wants to keep it that way. While students are not organised well enough to participate explicitly in the current wave of anti-dictatorship protests, there is no doubt that the highly charged environment will make an impact on them. Sooner or later, the freeze on student politics will come to an end, and the popular mobilisation taking place in front of our very eyes may just be the catalyst for this regeneration.

None for tomorrow
Are the numerous student leaders of the past to blame for the absentees of today? Here's how political leaders respond
By Ammar Mir

It is one thing to be interested in politics, another entirely to take an active, responsible part in the process. Ideology, that most browbeaten of words, is a necessary first step. Many political leaders of today ascribe the formation of their own political ideology to familiar and often similar circumstances. Most attribute the formation of their political ideology to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's movement against Ayub Khan's regime in 1968. The movement involved, it will be recalled, huge numbers from the student community. Others such as Ghulam Abbas put it down to their working class background and growing up watching the sufferings of the common man.

Such conditions exist today as well, however. There is a popular movement against a military regime. And the lot of the common man hasn't improved so much that it doesn't arouse sympathy, even amongst the youth. Why the apparent inactivity then?

Ghulam Abbas, Secretary General Peoples' Party, blames military intervention in politics for destroying the political institutions in the country. The absence of an institutionalised political setup is responsible, he says, for marginalising the leaders of tomorrow.

But there are also those who maintain that students today are as politically aware as ever. Abdul Hai Baloch President National Party (NP) holds that the youth of today is interested in politics; a view endorsed by Naib Amir Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Liaquat Baloch. According to him, students have never been depoliticised, especially those of today.

"These days, students know more than their teachers do," he claims. "How can they be depoliticised?"

Is the political future of today's students to be held hostage to the past? Are the numerous student leaders of the past to blame for the absentees of today? When you ask political leaders this question, their answers vary.

Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed states that the student politics of his days was anything but violent. "At that time, a student might have had a dagger or a pair of brass knuckles. It was peaceful politics. Today students carry AK-47s." True. Kalashnikov culture has reached students.

Liaquat Baloch blames this, and the violence of his student days, on the Cold War and particularly the first Afghan war. He also claims that students were often used as scapegoats by the ruling class. But there are those who hold that the violence in student politics was in self defense. Ghulam Abbas says the violence resulted from a government ban on progressive politics and a rise in religious fundamentalism during the 1980s.

Dr Abdul Hai Baloch is more critical: "The state is guilty of bringing violence into politics. What needs to be understood is that students did not pick up weapons from the start. Rulers have always used force to stay in power. What can you do when the state uses violence while you are protesting peacefully? You will stay quiet for the first few times but then, you will pick up weapons yourself to counter such violent oppression. When and if there is real democracy, there will be no violence."

This final sentiment is widely shared by political leaders. Constant military intervention in politics, they say, has given rise to a ruling elite which does not want students to take any part in politics. The part played by students in the popular movement against the Ayub Khan regime is still fresh in the minds of this class, they claim. That's why, student unions have been banned and, according to Liaquat Baloch, students have been deliberately de-tracked.

Perhaps. But what of the future then? What of civil society and the responsibilities of every student as a citizen of the state? Is it enough to blame history and resign to a future dictated by the past? Being educated is a blessing and a source of strength. In any society, those who know the difference between good and bad, or even better and worse, have a responsibility to make the right choice.

How can students be brought back into the political process and, most importantly, sans the AK-47s? Ghulam Abbas believes that only with the rule of law can this 'psychology of terrorism' be eradicated. But, perhaps, the best answer comes from Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. "It is for the people to decide what to do and how. 15 million people have not registered their votes for the upcoming elections. How do they expect their voice to count?"

15 million unregistered voters. How many students in there, one wonders.

Violence per se
The phenomenon of violence at campus up to a point where most public universities now house one police sub-station...
By Aoun Sahi

Think 'student politics', and your mind instantly jumps to strong images of 'violence'. Well, there are some strong reasons for that. The horror stories one has heard over time do not cease to happen. The latest in the series is the target killing of student leader Wasif Aziz, an Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) representative, in Karachi. It triggered a blame game of sorts, because the IJT blamed the deadly act on its rival student organisation, and vice versa.

According to veteran student union leaders, the phenomenon of violence at campus can be traced back to the late 1970s. The situation, they claim, got worse after General Zia's Martial Law. The Afghan Jihad brought the Kalashnikov culture into the varsities and, for the very first time, arms were seen openly in educational institutions in the country. The 1980s and 90s saw the emergence of the student wings of different political parties that were often pitched against each other.

Today we have reached a point where most public universities in Pakistan are home to one police sub-station (police chauki) each, established to bar students from taking part in 'violent', on-campus activities. These sub-stations were set up on the request of the concerned administration to eliminate violence from the institutions.

Most of the old student leaders blame IJT for bringing the arms and violence in educational institutions.

Dr Sarwar, General Secretary Democratic Student Federation, the student wing of Communist Party Pakistan in 1953-54, declares that IJT's representation, in his time, was minimal in the educational institutions in Sindh, with the result that there were no clashes among different student groups.

"The most dangerous weapon used in my student days was knuckle-dusters," he tells TNS. According to him, it was the government that would use power against student unions, "In 1953, the government agencies used arms against a rally of students and shot more than seven students. They were only demanding reduction in fees."

He adds that after 1956, the year when he started his professional life, IJT had formed 'thunder squads' with the mandate to use violence against the students belonging to other groups.

According to data collected by none other than IJT, during the period 1947 to 1984, the year the student politics was banned, a total of 151 student clashes occurred in different educational institutions of Pakistan in which a total of 13 students were killed (including those murdered by police), 248 were injured, 800 arrested, and 110 rusticated from their campuses. In the next twenty years, between 1984 and 2004, at least 525 student clashes occurred in which 165 students were killed and 1210 injured. The number of students arrested during this period was 7235 while 985 were thrown out from their educational institutions. Though IJT offers no proper data post-2004, it records the killing of at least seven students in Karachi alone.

The Afghan war, according to students belonging to the Left, offered most IJT workers an opportunity to acquire guerilla war training, and start target killing in educational institutions to eliminate their opponents. "The highest level of violence in universities and colleges was seen after the Afghan Jihad," says Amjad Minhas who was Secretary DSF Punjab chapter, back in 1981. He was in IJT from 1974 to 1980 and remained its 'Rukan' -- the highest rank offered to a student.

"The Bhutto regime saw Hanif Barkat as its first victim of student clashes in Punjab. Hanif was killed in 1972 and Hafiz Salman Butt of IJT was nominated in the above mentioned murder case," Minhas says.

"Before Zia's Martial Law, IJT had only one torture cell in Lahore -- in the Punjab University. But, later, it set up its torture cells in almost every public educational institution in Lahore. In the year 1983, they abducted Khawaja Saad Rafique of Muslim Students Federation (MSF) and tortured him badly. He then organised MSF with the help of his student friends like Riaz Fatyana, Arshed Amin Chaudhry, Atif Chaudhry, using the same tactics against IJT. Many students were killed because of this tussle in Punjab. While in Sindh, violent clashes among All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (APMSO), People's Student Federation (PSF) and IJT started during the same era," recalls Minhas.

He tells that after helping IJT to organise, Ziaul Haq later (in 1984) banned student unions because the military government saw it as a threat to its authority.

IJT denies all these 'allegations'. Rashid Naseem, General Secretary, Jamaat-e-Islam, Sindh Province, and Nazim-e-Aala IJT in 1984-85 tells TNS that violence among students started during Bhutto's regime when the government helped to induct PSF in educational institutions. Later, it was triggered by APMSO in Karachi. "Every action has a reaction. If somebody uses power against you, what should you do?" questions Rashid. "Most of the casualties in educational institutions occurred after the governments banned student politics."

Waseem Aftab, member of MQM Rabta Committee, who remained a member of the central committee of APMSO from 1993 to1997, says their student wing was only established in 1978 while IJT's violence has a long history. "It was IJT that brought arms into the educational institutes," he says, adding that in February 1983, IJT banned the entry of APMSO in Jamia Karachi by force. "Their workers killed many of our workers. So far at least 25 students from APMSO have been killed, most of them targeted by IJT. Even now when we are in power the students belonging to APMSO can not enter many educational institutions in Karachi."

After May 12, the IJT workers in Government College of Technology did not allow students belonging to MQM to take exam, says Waseem. He thinks that IJT was given a mandate from establishment to prove student politics as a dangerous activity. "Because it is the only platform in Pakistan that provides opportunity to middle and lower classes in society to emerge on national political arena."

Rashid Naseem, on the other hand, thinks that those who can ban the entry of CJ in the city can also ban their entry in a university. He says everybody knows who is spreading violence.

Left, right and centre
Peshawar University that has always been a nursery of budding politicians
By Javed Aziz Khan

The politically conscious students of Islamia College, Peshawar -- that later laid the foundation for the University of Peshawar (UoP) led by Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan -- took to the streets during the Khilafat Movement and Hijrat Movement. Later, they played a key role during the freedom movement. They continued to participate in political affairs during the Zia regime when curbs were imposed on their activities. Muslim Students Federation (MSF), a student wing of the Pakistan Muslim League, had been dominant for quite a long time after the establishment of the UoP, followed by Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT). People's Students Federation (PSF), however, stole the show when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto assumed power.

The sprawling campus of the Peshawar University, spread over 1050 acres, has always been a nursery of budding politicians. Like the rest of the institutions, curbs were imposed on student politics after the military government took over in late 70s. The PSF, Pakhtun Students Federation, IJT and DSF began violent protests against the curbs but failed.

Once an IJT leader, Sirajul Haq has not only been the provincial chief of JI but also served as senior minister in the first-ever MMA government. A firebrand student leader Siraj rose from Peshawar and later headed the IJT twice as its central chief. Apart from him, Senator Murad Ali Shah, MNA and provincial general secretary of the MMA, Shabbir Ahmad, former General Secretary Mushtaq Ahmad, provincial ministers Shahraz Khan, Fazal Rabbani, Inayatullah and Hafiz Hashmat are among the sitting top government functionaries who were involved in politics during their student years at the University of Peshawar.

Once chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and incumbent provincial chief of the Awami National Party, Afrasiab Khattak was also an active student leader, associated with PkSF. Former ANP minister and now a key PPPP leader, Farid Toofan along with Syed Qamar Abbas and several other national-level leaders had also entered politics when they were students of the Peshawar University.

The international politics also mobilised the UoP students on different occasions. They were among the first ones who took to the streets when US invaded Iraq and when the Allied Forces attacked the neighbouring Afghanistan. A number of localised bodies, like Marwat Students Union, Bajaur Students Organisation, Dir Students Union and others, that have provided a platform to the students of a particular tribe or area, also joined hands with the popular student groups over these issues.

For the past few years, the IJT has been active to voice demand of the restoration of Students Union. Although support comes from other student bodies IJT stands alone in taking practical measures for this purpose. In a referendum held by the students a few years back,  IJT claimed 88 per cent of the voters, including 5195 students and 75 teachers, supporting the restoration of students' union activities in the educational institutes.

 
Progressive decline
Student movements in Karachi that played a pivotal role in the democratic upsurges in Pakistan
By Shahid Husain

Hardly a few years after Pakistan achieved independence, the students of Karachi under the banner of Democratic Students Federation (DSF), led by Mohammad Sarwar, a student of Karachi's prestigious Dow Medical College (DMC) spearheaded a movement that sent shock waves in the echelons of power.

On January 8, 1953, a procession led by DSF was fired upon near Paradise Cinema in the heart of the city, and seven students and a minor were brutally killed by the police. On January 9, Karachiites observed a strike against police excesses and Khawaja Nazimuddin had to impose a curfew in the city for a few days, indicating how serious the situation became after the police firing.

The incident was so shocking for the masses in general and the intelligentsia in particular that eminent poets such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Mustafa Zaidi, Saroor Barabankvi and Nazish Amrohvi wrote poems on the killings of innocent students and the then prime minister Khawaja Nazimuddin had to accept all the demands of the students, including the establishment of Karachi University.

"The DSF was so powerful and 'deeply rooted in the students' that the then minister of education would try to contact student leaders and the latter would simply refuse to talk," recalls Dr Sarwar.

The popularity of DSF is understandable since some of the most brilliant students were in its fold. They later emerged as outstanding personalities in their respective fields. Amongst them were Khawaja Moin Ahmed, later a professor of medicine at DMC, Syed Haroon Ahmed, a leading psychiatrist, Adeeb-ul-Hasan Rizvi, a leading urologist, and director Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Mohammad Yousuf, Safdar Ali, and Ayub Mirza. The other reason for the popularity of DSF was that it mainly focused on student problems and not on politics.

The January 8 movement not only impacted the then capital city of Karachi but the entire country, especially the eastern wing (now Bangladesh) that was more conscious politically.

The DSF leaders grabbed the opportunity to organise themselves on the national plane and toured Punjab, North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and East Pakistan to meet fellow students that culminated in the formation of the All Pakistan Students Organisation (APSO) on December 25, 1953. The popularity of the new body could be gauged from the fact that one of the APSO leaders defeated seasoned politician Nurul Amin in the elections.

But the ruling elite was not happy with the popularity of the emerging student movement. More so because it had decided to tilt towards the United States and enter into military pacts such as SEATO and CENTO. It was not surprising that in the changing political scenario, the DSF, APSO, and the Communist Party of Pakistan were banned by the government in 1954. Even DSF's fortnightly publication the Students Herald was banned.

Despite state repression, the students did not cower and organised themselves under the umbrella of National Students Federation (NSF). In February, 1961, the students brought out a procession condemning the brutal murder of Patrice Lumamba. NSF leader Hussain Naqi was seriously injured when he was attacked at DMC by the so-called liberal organisation, Young Medicos Organisation (YMO).

In 1962, the NSF leadership challenged the military dictator Ayub Khan and as a result, its top 12 leaders, often dubbed as 'bara imam' were externed from Karachi. These included Hussain Naqi, Meraj Mohammad Khan, Syed Saeed Hasan, Johar Hussain, Khurram Mirza, Amir Hyder Kazmi, Ali Mukhtar Rizvi, Nafees Siddiqui, Agha Jaffer, Wahid Bashir and Nawaz Butt. The NSF leaders were punished because they were against the Shareef Commission's recommendation of extending the two-year degree course to a three-year degree course, in addition to their movement that called for repealing the notorious University Ordinance.

Senior journalist Wahid Basheer recalls that progressive students were often beaten up by the goons of city administration and their meetings were disrupted.

"In 1963, Hussain Naqi emerged victorious as president of Karachi University Students' Union but the elections were declared void by the then vice chancellor Dr Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi. Interestingly, Naqi got elected in re-election but the administration did not budge. Instead, it debarred Hussain Naqi from the university," recalls Wahid Bashir.

During the presidential elections in 1965 too under the 'Basic Democracy' system, NSF sided with Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah and contributed immensely to her campaign. Though Fatima Jinnah lost the elections, her daring attempt to oust Ayub made a tremendous impact on the body politic of Pakistan.

The 1968-69 democratic upsurge in Pakistan also owes its success to NSF that launched a movement in October 1968 from Karachi and within a few months it became so popular that Ayub had to announce he would not contest the next presidential elections. Sadly enough, the gains of the democratic upsurge were nullified when yet another military dictator General Yahya Khan staged a coup and usurped power.

The students of Karachi should also be credited for opposing the genocide in the former East Pakistan in 1971 when several student activists hailing from NSF and the Sindh National Students Federation (SNSF) were arrested and tortured by the police. Amongst the student activists who were rounded up in 1971 were Hidayat Hussain, Tanveer Sheikh and Shahid Husain.

In the journalists' movement of 1978, too, student activists from NSF, SNSF, Progressive Front, and Sindhi Shakird Tehreek volunteered arrests. Amongst them were included Jabbar Khattak, Zia Awan, Jan-e-Alam, Noor Baloch, Sadiq Jarchvi, Salim Baloch, Khaliq Zardari, Mohammad Khan Solangi, Taj Mari and Imdad Chandio.

In 1978, All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) came into being, led by Altaf Hussain and Azeem Tariq that paved the way for Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) that later changed its name to Muttahida Qaumi Movement and student politics was marred with ethnicity and violence.

Tauseef Ahmed Khan, an associate professor of Mass Communication at the Urdu University, Karachi, and a former NSF activist recalls that violence erupted at the university campus in 1980 when Hussain Haqqani, an Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) leader was the president of the union.

"Hussain Haqqani hired a notorious criminal Raja Javed to beat progressive students," recalls Khan.

"A ban on student unions in 1984 and an easy availability of deadly weapons in the wake of the Afghan War brought about a metamorphosis in student politics and an end to healthy activities such as debates and literary societies, depriving the community of a democratic culture and tolerance," says Khan.

Inactivism!
When Zia declared that he would purge Pakistan of 'the scourge of politics' he meant what he said
By Tariq Bhatti

"In the first few decades of Pakistan's existence, student politics was a symbol of the students' socio-political awareness. But the 1980s and 90s saw the socially sensitive and ideology-based political activism of students transform into the gross manipulation of young minds by self-serving political powers," says former student leader Azizuddin Ahmed.

The youth has stopped being idealistic, notes Azizuddin. Students involved in political debate could connect with issues and had possible political solutions for them.

Depoliticisation is best understood a negation of politicisation. According to Azizuddin, politicisation is not only the awareness of an issue but also involves the motivation to resolve it politically. "So depoliticisation essentially would mean absence of consciousness and inability to respond."

The political dissociation of majority students in public sector universities is partly because of their refusal to associate themselves with the narrow ideological positions, adhered staunchly by violent and non-democratic student nurseries of rightwing political parties that dominate the campus landscape in most places. The situation is further deteriorated due to the non-existence of alternative student collectives.

A survey on political leanings of students from public and private universities recorded 70 per cent of interviewees of LUMS were against politics in educational institutions as compared to 68 per cent who were in favour of it in public universities. It may not be something new and shocking for many of the readers. It is primarily because of apolitical environment of private universities and overwhelming enrollment of students from upper classes of society that believe in governance rather than politics.

When General Zia-ul-Haq declared that he would purge Pakistan of 'the scourge of politics', he meant what he said. Popular politics at the national level has disappeared from Pakistan -- together with trade unions, peasant collectives, and student groups. Idealism and dreaming for a new and better society is nearly banished.

General Zia's martial law made the longest interruption in the political process. With the abrogation of the constitution, disbanding of political parties, fanning of fanaticism, introducing biradari and sectarianism, and neutralisation of a significant section of the political leadership through enticements, the political growth of society was curtailed.

The students' involvement in politics is discouraged; in fact they are asked to submit affidavits at the time of admission in colleges and universities, declaring that they would not take part in politics.

Students from Aligarh University formed a mosaic of leadership that fought for the independence. They, eventually, succeeded in winning a separate homeland for the Muslims of subcontinent. But look at the irony of history that the country of their dreams and visions banned students from entering into the arena of national politics.

The history of student politics of East Pakistan till 1971 is recorded as 'all glorious' in  today's Bangladesh. However, in the wake of military intervention into the affairs of Bengali politics, similar 'reforms' were introduced; that made student politics a forbidden tree that inevitably bears poisonous fruit. 

Zia's stamp
Punjab University, an IJT sanctuary

The Punjab University (PU) has been a hub of student politics for long. Established in 1882, the university is one of the largest and oldest seats of learning in Pakistan. After the country achieved Independence, the student politics at PU revolved around socio-economic issues and those related directly to the welfare of the students.

However, in the 1960s and 70s, the university became a stronghold of leftists. Those were the days when the National Students Federation (NSF) was popular among students all over the country. The situation at the PU was not much different as NSF was equally popular here.

Though the Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) was there, its activities were quite limited. Founded on December 23, 1947, in Lahore, the IJT claimed to have a greater understanding of issues, compared to the young NSF that comprised 'Surkhas' (Communists).

The rise of the IJT began with the imposition of military dictatorship in 1977. Since left wing political parties, trade unions and student organisations were the main targets of the military ruler, all of them were dealt with, strictly. IJT, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) flourished during this period as its opponents were facing the wrath of the military regime. Though some students representing student bodies like Pakistan Students Federation (PSF) and Muslim Students Federation (MSF) could make their presence felt and win individual seats in student bodies' elections, on the whole PU has been an IJT sanctuary ever since.

Various old students of the PU have claimed that lethal weapons were first introduced in universities during General Zia's regime. The allegations of the use of violence by 'religious student groups claiming to be the sole moral guardians of society' were also first raised during this period. Since then, there have been countless incidents of bashing up of students conversing with members of the opposite sex, at the hands of the IJT.

The IJT remained the primary force in the PU and its influence increased to such an extent that each and every administrative decision was taken after consultation with its officeholders. The opponents of IJT claim that most of the teachers recruited during the late 70s and afterwards were once IJT or JI supporters.

Even after the imposition of ban, the IJT did not stop its activities and kept exerting its influence. The IJT today nominates nazims to look after hostel matters, departmental matters, co-curricular and sports activities and so on. Nominations are made as there can be no elections due to the ban. The students body holds annual book fair and other functions under its banner despite being unauthorised to do so.

Other student bodies at PU cannot follow suit as according to them IJT is still benefiting from the influence it had gained in the 1970s and 1980s. They claim that even the faculty has a soft corner for IJT whose members can easily avoid disciplinary action.

-- Shahzada Irfan Ahmed

Baloch cause
Balochistan University's share...
By Muhammad Ejaz Khan

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