Campus violence

Violence on college campuses across the country has been growing more frequent over the last three decades, with the latest example clashes between the Islami Jamiat Talaba and Pakhtun and Baloch students at the Punjab University in Lahore on Monday. Reportedly, the confrontation began when IJT activists were preparing to host an event on the grounds of the university and were involved in a melee with other students. That soon spread to the rest of the university and students from the IJT were accused of torturing a Pakhtun student. The university has identified over a hundred students and claimed 15 armed men were part of the clashes; the police have booked cases against them. The administration has said it will register cases of terrorism against them. That didn’t end up helping as on Tuesday there were further clashes, this time between IJT members and the police. It is worth pointing out that the IJT, which is the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, is the predominant student group on campus. It has been known to deploy violence in the past against groups and even professors of whom it does not approve, and used its strength of numbers to disrupt events like book fairs. The power it wields has rarely been used constructively. In October of last year, it threatened the provincial Higher Education Minister Syed Raza Ali Gilani when he was visiting the campus, and has continued to hold rallies at the university even though the administration had placed a ban on all student events and functions.

The rise of the IJT – and of violence on campus – can be traced back to the ban on student unions imposed during Ziaul Haq’s reign, with only a short period when it was repealed after his death. Student politics has not only been an incubator for national politicians, it has also served as a healthy outlet for students to air legitimate grievances. This is why the argument against student unions has been disproven over time. When the Supreme Court reinstated the ban, it argued that student unions were responsible for bringing guns onto campus. But guns are more prevalent than before and are now being wielded by extreme groups. We must remember that student groups were at the forefront of protests against dictators and on campus these groups led the fight to bring positive change in the quality of education and services provided to students. Last year, the Senate passed a resolution urging the ban be lifted but no legislation has been tabled since then. Violent groups have now become so entrenched at universities that even a revival of student unions may not counter them; however, it can be a first step in providing an alternative to the guns-and-violence prevalent on campuses around the country.