LAHORE – A cyber and SMS campaign against the possible dissolution of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) is on the rise, as the youth are using the Internet and cellular phones to raise their voice, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Students and youngsters are not only blogging on the Internet but also forwarding messages on cellular phones and asking their friends to join the cause. Students and youngsters are also using social networking website Facebook to organise their protests at various universities. Sharing pictures, videos and cartoons has also become popular in recent days and students are sharing videos about HEC’s dissolution including TV talk shows.
Website www.causes.com, which is used to spread a specific cause, is also being used to spread the message against HEC’s dissolution. “Please, raise your voice against the decision of dissolving the HEC. Support the cause for an educated and developed Pakistan” is the message of the cause and until now around 60,000 people have joined it.
Students of Punjab University (PU) Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) invited PU students to a protest against the possible dissolution by campaigning on the Internet. Students are also sending SMS saying, “This is the time to save education, this is the time to save Pakistan’s future, this is the time to save HEC, this is the time to step outside & join hands in protest”.
Former HEC chairman Dr Attaur Rehman’s latest column, Time to save HEC, has become one of the most shared columns on social networking sites. Another message being frequently forwarded is “Save HEC, save your future…will you allow fake degree holders to destroy your future? Will you not stand for this institution?”
According to students, the Internet paved the way for nationwide protests. They said that students from renowned public-sector universities hold protests and it was the Internet, which organised them in such a way. The youth are even claiming that the HEC is more important for Pakistan than its nuclear assets.
Student organisations are also frequently sharing pictures, videos and detailed text of their protests, while some students said that Dr Attaur Rehman should not have asked the army chief to intervene in the matter. The Insaaf Students Federation has also announced a campaign to save the HEC and is using social networking site Twitter in this regard.
Recent protest of NED Univeristy, Karachi students has also been publicised on the Internet. Student Dawood said that the recent cyber movement to save the HEC is contributing for a consensus among the nation. Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Marvi Memon is also using Twitter in an effective way to promote her campaign to save the HEC.
Marvi’s tweets on Saturday were mostly about the HEC’s devolution. She has also moved an adjournment motion in the National Assembly on the issue. Some of her tweets include, “Meeting with HEC-strategy sorted-petition in Supreme Court in my name n adjournment motion in assembly going in today”, “just had chat with hec chairman to get update of where we r now after my one week return- lots f effort required on that from my end.”
