LAHORE: Thousands of Pakistani students on Friday gathered in different parts of the country, calling for equal education opportunities for all segments of society and asking the government to lift a decades-long ban on student unions in education institutions.
The Students Solidarity March was organized by the Progressive Students Collective (PSC) in 50 cities of the country simultaneously under the slogan “quality education for all.”
“The solidarity march is being carried out throughout the country and students in 50 cities are participating to add their voice to the collective cause of the student community,” Ammar Ali Jan, a professor at FC College Lahore, told Arab News.
A girl shouts slogans during a protest rally for the students in Islamabad on Friday, Nov 29, 2019. (AFP photo)
“Students have come out to protest since education has been made an expensive commodity in our country. Education budget has been cut from Rs45 billion to Rs30 billion and private institutes have transformed into business centers,” he added.
In Lahore, several hundred students gathered in front of Government College University and marched toward the historic Mall Road. They gathered at Charing Cross in front of the Punjab Assembly where leaders of the Student Action Committee addressed the participants of the rally holding red flags.
“We are out to exercise our freedom of association and demand an end to the ban on student unions. This is our first step toward a longer struggle,” Ali Ashraf, spokesperson of the organizing committee, told Arab News.
A large number of Pashtun and Baloch students also participated in the march and raised slogans in their mother tongue.
Many of them were carrying pictures of Mashal Khan, a student who was lynched by a mob on blasphemy charges in Mardan’s Abdul Wali Khan University.
Pakistani students and civil society activists rally against ban on students' unions in Lahore on Nov. 29, 2019. (AP)
Khan’s father, Muhammad Iqbal, also traveled to Lahore to participate in the rally.
“I am here to recall the sacrifice of my son who lost his life while demanding students’ rights,” he told Arab News. “Today I am happy that hundreds of students are fighting for the same cause. Every young student is my Mashal.”
Pakistan Peoples Party (Shaheed Bhutto) Chairperson Ghinwa Bhutto was also present at the occasion.
“I am here because I love these young people. They are the future of the country and I am sure that our future is bright. I can say this on seeing these guys here,” she said.
Apart from students, a large number of leftwing activists were present at the rally and claimed that the event marked the revival of the leftwing movement in Pakistan.
“The students here are openly raising slogans of the left. It is the revival of leftwing politics in Pakistan,” Farooq Sulehria, editor of Viewpoint magazine and assistant professor at the BeaconHouse National University, told Arab News.
Veteran politician, Abid Hasan Minto, was also seen moving with the rally in a wheelchair.
Students mainly called for a 10 percent increase in the education budget and the reinstatement of student unions. They also demanded formation of committees that could have a say in the national syllabus, award of scholarships and cases of on-campus sexual harassment.
Apart from that, they called for freedom of thought and expression in local universities, action against institutional bias toward students coming from areas other than Punjab and an end to mistreatment of Baloch and Pashtun students at the hands of university managements.
