‘Illiteracy for all’ is PPP’s vision for Sindh, says Karachi JI chief

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) on Thursday staged a protest demonstration outside the Sindh Assembly against the House recently rejecting a resolution demanding holding of student union elections, irregularities in Intermediate examination results and a proposed bill aiming to change the criteria for the appointment of vice chancellors to public varsities.

Addressing the demonstration, Karachi JI Emir Monem Zafar warned the provincial government of expanding the scope of protest to the Chief Minister House if the educational issues, particularly those pertaining to the autonomy of universities and elections of students unions, were not addressed.

He said all the options were open, including a protest outside the CM House because the CM himself was leading the department of universities and educational boards. He remarked that the actual vision of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Sindh was ‘illiteracy for all’. He said both the students and teachers were vigilant for safeguarding the education sector and the government would not be allowed to continue with its anti-educational policies any more.

He recalled that former military dictator Pervez Musharraf had also tried to attack the autonomy of universities but he was pushed back. He said the PPP government always chanted the mantra of democracy but it had been violating all the democratic norms and values to the extent which even Musharraf could not have reached.

The JI leader made it clear that a bureaucrat would never be tolerated as the vice chancellor of any university. Talking about the student unions elections, he said the PPP's prime minister in 2008, Yousuf Raza Gilani, had announced restoration of the student unions elections but unfortunately it turned out to be a mere announcement.

Similarly, Zafar maintained, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari announced the restoration of student unions and legislation was also done in this regard by the Sindh Assembly but still the Sindh government was avoiding to implement it.

He said the student unions were the nurseries for democracy and the PPP, despite all its towering claims for democracy, had been preventing students unions. He criticised the PPP government for rejecting a resolution in the Sindh Assembly for student unions.

He also highlighted the sorry state of affairs in educational boards and said that the educational apartheid by the PPP government would not be tolerated. He said the PPP government was itself sheltering and harbouring corrupt elements in the educational boards.

IJT Karachi head Aabish Siddiqui told the protesters that during the sit-in, a high level delegation of the Sindh government had assured the organisers of the protest that a code of conduct for the elections of student unions would be formed and announced within a week.

He said the students welcomed the announcement and the assurance but made it clear that mere announcements would not work and the government would have to address all the outstanding educational issues.