College campuses in Pakistan have often been subject to unwarranted politicization and there are several cases of violence among and against students in places like Punjab University, Karachi University and Quaid-e-Azam University.

Political awareness is important and student unions that negotiate on behalf of the student body with university administrations are necessary

However, this turns into a problem when student politics becomes heavily influenced and appropriated by political parties who are pushing there own agendas.

The students at Quaid-e-Azam University have been protesting since 4 October after the administration expelled around 18 students due to the violent clash between the Baloch and Sindhi ethnic councils. This violence allegedly happened as a result of the negligence of the university administration as student complaints regarding the increase in fee, lack of facilities and hostel issues weren’t addressed.

The Quaid-e-Azam University Students Federation (QSF) started protesting against the expulsion as well as the above mentioned issues

On Friday 20th October the university accepted 12 demands of the students but refused to restore the suspended and expelled students. As a result QSF called off the protest but the Baloch and Pakhtun students continued their strike to pressurize University administration restores the expelled students.

Members of the Democratic Students’ Alliance  informed MangoBaaz that on October  23, about 70 students involved in the strike were arrested by the Police

https://twitter.com/AmmarRashidT/status/922343144708075520

Sajawal Niazi, a Democratic Students Alliance member, spoke to us about the arrest:

“The students faced lathi charge and brutal treatment by the police. There has not been any statement by the university administration or the police.”

Unconfirmed reports also state that the police broke into the social sciences department and even manhandled the female students.

This is an example of the kind of extremes political violence can reach in college campuses

A Professor at QAU admitted that her fellow faculty members were also pushing the students to continue protesting to indirectly achieve their personal agendas. She spoke to us about the protests.

“The students have legitimate demands but external political influences muddled with student demands make the protests a problem.”

It is important to bear in mind that this is not the first instance of violence against students. Political parties like Jamaat-e-Islami have long been haunting Punjab University students and Karachi University has been a hub of politics of the MQM in the past. Just last year two professors at KU were murdered for speaking out about issues specific to Balochistan.

Student political awareness is vital for political progress but appropriating student unions and using them for Party politics leads to extreme cases of violence and conflict that could otherwise be avoided.

 

Cover image via: dawn.com