The conversion of campuses

Universities and institutions of higher learning are traditionally places where ideas are exchanged and debates occur at both formal and informal forums. In our country, these campuses have become places where more sinister activities take place.

The brutal murder of Mashal Khan at the hands of his peers is just one example of this. There have been other unfortunate events at campuses around the country and these continue to take place on a regular basis. Just days after Mashal was killed we heard the news of a young woman’s arrest in Lahore.

The woman was apparently an MBBS student who had unexpectedly gone missing from her home town of Hyderabad about a month ago. In a letter to her brother she had suggested she had joined Islamic State. Her arrest alongside activists of a terrorist outfit who police say intended to carry out an attack on Easter suggests this may be accurate. The young woman has reportedly stated she was to be used as a suicide bomber in this.

The conversion of the female student had occurred while she was studying at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, with friends reporting that her views had become increasingly extreme and her Facebook page had been blocked because of material she placed on it.

The occurrence of such events at our educational institutions is dangerous. The influences that have spread hatred through so much of society are quite evidently strong here. The failure to act against groups spreading their own ideology on campuses over a period of many years appears to be a factor in this. Lately the activities of the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba have been reported again from university campuses in Lahore as well as other cities. Apart from taking over hostels and controlling administrative activities, the group has imposed severe restrictions on the hosting of musical functions on campuses and insisted that there be as little mingling of genders as possible.

In some cases university administrations appear to have followed the trends set by these groups. At a campus in Swat the administration sent out warnings to students stating that male and female persons must not be seen walking together or interacting with each other, and if this was spotted a heavy fine would be imposed and parents called in. In other cases too those running even the most prestigious private universities have failed to protect the basic rights of students including their right to the free expression of opinion or the right to host guest speakers talking on what are seen as controversial topics. Balochistan has been high on the list of such topics in recent years.

As a consequence, our educational institutions have been turned into places where less and less thinking and reasoning can occur. The building of views should be taking place at these centres of learning so that students get a chance to listen to all kinds of opinions and then formulate their own view of the world. Sadly, this is not happening. The important process has been stunted by forces that have intervened and attempted by force to impose their own vision, more and more frequently using violence for this purpose.

We also need to study more closely how organisations such as Daesh reach students at universities and why they are able to assert a significant amount of influence on them. There have been some indications that in certain cases members on the faculty or on administrative bodies have facilitated the actions of extremist groups. This is something that needs to be discussed far more openly and with far greater urgency.

The case of Mashal Khan may have created a stir and led us all to realise how grave the consequences of intolerance and hatred on campus can be. There were, however, warning signs long before this incident occurred and the problem of course is not restricted to the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan where it took place. The environment we have created on our campuses is such that issues can occur at any time and at any place. The very nature of higher learning has been altered. The essential rights to put forward opinions or engage in discussions on key matters with other students and teachers have in effect been halted.

Following the incident in Mardan more and more people across the country, including students are fearful of ideas they put out in any form and also fearful that their social media accounts will be misused in some way to harm them. In an environment of fear thinking cannot take place easily and openly. This lack of thinking is a key reason for the growth of violence, brutality and narrow-mindedness within our society and it appears the pattern has been continued everywhere in the country.

This should not be a problem that we dismiss lightly. Yes, the sequence of unfortunate events that led up to the harrowing killing of Mashal are being discussed and protested at many places. We need however to take a step back and examine the whole problem from a much wider angel. It is quite obvious that even in places where we would expect greater acceptance of divergent views there is a lack of willingness to do so and an inability to hear out dissent without reverting to rage and violence.

It also seems that the most dangerous influences in society are able to reach students on campuses and influence them to take the most drastic actions. The girl who left her home and boarded a bus from Hyderabad to Lahore may have been caught and is likely to face trial. But we have no inkling of how many other young men and women may even now be falling under extremist opinions on our campuses and linking up with outfits bent on spreading hatred and preaching violence.

The answer to the problem would be to turn our campuses into places where true debates and discussions take place. This has become more and more limited over the past few decades. The Zia era ban on student unions is a factor in this but of course not the only reason for the crisis. The problem is linked also to the increasingly small space left in our society for ideas to be exchanged without fear and without a sense of danger by those who differ from the prevailing views on key matters.

Failing to allow young people to think and to put forward their opinions can only create a nation that resorts to violence at the slightest instigation. We have already seen this happen again and again in recent years. The violence has occurred on university campuses in other incidents too and such events appear to have become more and more frequent. If students are not able to become the thinkers and leaders of society we will sink into greater and greater darkness.

We are already seeing the darkness close in. Soon it will become impossible to break through it with any glimmer of light. The light can be lit only if we once again turn our campuses into places open to ideas and willing to allow students holding all kinds of views to put them forward creating an environment where thought and expression can all take place without the constant threat that currently exists.

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com