Pakistani elected LSE postgraduate students’ officer

LONDON: A Pakistani student has been elected as the leader of more than 6870 postgraduate students at the London School of Economics (LSE) Union.

Bilal Bin Saqib, who hails from Lahore, recently won the elections at the famous LSE to become the Postgraduate Students officer. He gained victory against 20 competing candidates.

The post of Postgraduate Students officer is a paid part-time leadership position to represent over 6870 postgraduate students (62% of the student population at the LSE) locally and internationally. Bilal will also take up a senior position on the Student Union Executive Committee, as well as the Trustee Board. He is currently enrolled in MSc Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the LSE.

Bilal told this scribe that he was thrilled to be elected for this position. “I am thankful to all the students who posed confidence in me. It’s a huge responsibility and I am already working hard to come up to the expectations of students'. LSE has been a wonderful experience, I recently visited Cape Town, South Africa on a research trip which is part of my Master’s programme and was also personally invited by the CEO François Bennahmias of Audemars Piguet, which is one of the most expensive watchmaker in the world to visit their factory in Geneva.”

Bilal explained that his job role includes representing and voicing the concerns of all postgraduate students at the LSE and working together with the school strategy to enhance the student and teaching experience.

In Lahore Bilal studied at the Lahore Grammar School. He explained that he wants to help students from across the world, who attend the LSE, in terms of not just studying but also experiencing and indulging themselves fully into trying new opportunities and being more entrepreneurial.

Bilal is also the founder of an NGO, “Tayaba.org” which helps water-deprived communities in Pakistan. This organisation provides innovative H2O wheels that help to easily drag up to 40 litres of water. He further elaborated that his initiative has impacted the lives of over 20,000 people and operate predominantly in the Sindh & Balochistan and now plans to expand further in Pakistan & Africa.

Recently, he questioned the Chief Justice of Pakistan during his fundraising campaign in London regarding the short-term goals & long-term strategies on the water crisis that Pakistan is facing right now. On this occasion, Saqib Nasir invited him to provide a presentation on the H2O wheel and its benefits.

Bilal completed his undergraduate from the Queen Mary University of London, where he also now serves as a mentor for the students of the school of management. He is the only Pakistani student to have won a case against a UK Students Union (QMSU) for unjustifiable treatment.

He was compensated monetary and with a written apology. “I cannot disclose facts of the case as we reached out of court settlement, I believe in equality for everybody around me, and I take the same seriously for myself as well.

In an international platform like that, I was indeed motivated to pick the right battle worth fighting for. I believe this would send out an appropriate message to my fellow Pakistanis and everybody who faces this to be resilience and show perseverance,” he added.