Hello! I’m back with another piece and this time I will be talking about a problem in my country, Pakistan. As a student, I was shocked and appalled when I learned that student unions are banned in Pakistan. Considering not many people talk about this, the majority of the student population even now is unaware of the fact that they are being deprived of their constitutional right to freedom of assembly. This is because the lack of student unions is so normalized and is such an old topic that we are not being taught about this very important part of a student’s life and depriving them of very basic and common knowledge. So, I took it upon myself to talk about the reasons why it was banned and how students and the general public are working to restore this very important organization. The general purpose of student unions is to represent students internally and externally, including on local and national issues. In Pakistan, although the constitution of Pakistan provides for fundamental rights including freedom of association and freedom of assembly, student unions are banned as already mentioned above. This happened in 1984 when, under martial law, general Zia ul Haq came into power. He banned all student unions in hopes that it'll help with the longevity of his political reign as they are a perfect platform for students to emerge as aspiring future politicians. The ban was however lifted during the PPP government in 1989. Despite the win in 1989, students were again greatly disappointed in 1993, when a petition arose seeking a ban on all student unions due to some students losing their lives on campus thanks to the Afghan “jihad”. As a result of this tragedy, the supreme court banned all political activities by students on campus. Though it is argued that the court did not outright ban all student unions, it could not be denied that the court failed to specify what exactly it was banning and hence political parties, scared of students rebelling for their rights and against any wrong action by a government, took full advantage of that. Since then, all student unions have been banned. The absence of student unions has been disastrous for the educational system and the social and political interests of the young generation and yet there is still some support in the community for the disenfranchisement of the students. How are students, parents of said students and everyone that can benefit from the revival of student unions working to remove the ban from this very important organization? What is the stance of politicians and former students’ union members regarding the uprising of students? I’ll talk about all that in my next blog!
