Student politics

Violent and, well, violent

Politics in educational institutes has always been a problem for us. If we do not allow it, political parties and students claim a violation of their basic rights; but if we do, they clash with other student political wings, thus start learning the ropes of politics rather ironically. But, this is not what should make up student political parties. That’s not even the question. The question is how come the environment is made so conducive for violence and other disruptions by these student politicians in academic activities.

For starters, student political wings are considered to be an extension of the main political parties albeit without any check and balance as they are not answerable to the public. This in turn gives them an unchecked license to be violent and otherwise disruptive to the environment of a campus. The conservative Islamic political party Jamat-e-Islami, for example, has established itself in many public educational institutes, some with as high a stature as Punjab University’s, under the guise of a student political wing named Islami Jamiat-e-Talba (IJT). With a huge majority of students not even bothering to participate in their activities, they resort to violence every other day in order to get their way. A complete silence, and in some cases backing, of the faculty has also made it easier for IJT to establish itself. Same is the case with Karachi University where another student political party has taken over the campus for decades. Last week’s clashes of IJT with another student political party Imamia Student Federation on sectarian basis, and separately with the police in Lahore after one of their activists was murdered, allegedly by another activist due to an internal feud, has pointed it out how important it is to handle this powder keg of a situation.

Unfettered and unchecked IJT’s activities have been on the campus. To be fair, it is only rational to allow other political parties to have their student wings as well. Allowing only one political party on the campus is nothing short of a dictatorship. Student politics could become a positive activity only if it is regulated by students, and to some extent the faculty, but not at all by political parties. Their vested interests make all the difference.