Student unions – time to empower Pakistan’s youth

Pakistan’s Sindh province has just passed a law lifting a ban on unions in educational institutions imposed by military dictator General Ziaul Haq in the 1980s and aimed at thwarting resistance to his rule by students. This is a rare democratic step forward in an increasingly authoritarian Pakistan, expanding civic space for pluralisms and rights-based activism by the country’s largest demographic: the youth.

The abolition of the ban comes from national opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which rules Sindh. The ban, unfortunately, continues to stay in place in the rest of the country. The restoration of unions also comes some months after Pakistan’s largest cities were rocked by large, boisterous protests by students demanding a greater say in educational matters as well as allowing them political activism in an academic setting without the threat of authoritarianism.

This is good news for several reasons. First, Pakistan is a professed democracy that constitutionally allows everyone over 18 years of age to actively partake in politics, vote in elections and run for office. The ban on unions has meant that students in colleges and universities have been denied their right to voice their political views and cultivate an inclusive debate on socio-political matters.

This has stifled academia in Pakistan which has become an intellectual wasteland where debates deviating from redundant state narratives, out of sync with modern sensibilities, are not allowed. This has resulted in a large population not only divorced from reality but also relegated to the sidelines of socio-political rights-based movements seeking a progressive and plural Pakistan. 

Young academics and student rights leaders such as Ammar Ali Jan are actively hounded and arrested, and even forced out of jobs for daring to guide rights-based youth inclusivity in matters related not just to education but also issues such as women’s rights and political participation.

The state is terrified of political awakening among the youth who they have historically targeted for indoctrination through regressive curricula that promote only orthodox worldviews and social conservatism. The result is a massive youth population – over 100 million under 25 – hooked on conspiracy theories and narrow nationalism that refuses to question poor governance and is hostile toward the imperatives of social reform.

This myopia has imposed a terrible social and political cost on Pakistan. Intolerance and violence have increased. The advent of Internet and digitalization of society has allowed hate narratives, misogyny and harassment of religious minorities to proliferate and obfuscate the demand for rights denied by the state.

Resultantly, a vicious cycle has emerged: absence of student unions has meant an inability by the youth to influence student priorities and educational standards. This has allowed the state to dictate a curriculum that does not teach social rights, gender equality, world history, contemporary politics, diversity and pluralisms or progressive analysis of political trajectories. This further results in more introvert opinions and expressions of intolerance. The cycle goes on.

At least in Sindh things should start changing where universities will now allow its students to weigh in on educational priorities such as a more expansive menu of subjects and disciplines to pursue, improved quality of facilities and teachers, affordable fee structures, combating of misogyny on campus and a buffer against religious orthodoxy that has no place in academia in a democracy.

“The spirit of activism and yearning for peaceful democratic process from a new generation of students is truly inspiring,” tweeted Bilawal Bhutto, son of slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto after his party’s government passed the law to restore student unions. He should know – in his early 30s, he is the youngest leader of any political party in Pakistan and as an aspirant to be the country’s next prime minister, understands and accepts the imperatives of bringing the youth into participatory politics.

But, as always in Pakistan, things are never as easy as they seem. Sindh is but just one of Pakistan’s seven constituent territories. All students in Pakistan deserve the right to participate in the process of political empowerment and social progress. They have not just a right to assembly, as guaranteed by the constitution, but the right to be heard and to influence policies that govern their fates and that of the country.

The federal government, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan, federal capital Islamabad and Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir must also allow the same rights to their students. A socially active, politically participative enlightened youth guarantees a progressive Pakistan. 

- Adnan Rehmat is a Pakistan-based journalist, researcher and analyst with interests in politics, media, development and science.

Twitter: @adnanrehmat1