Familiar tactics

Even after decades, the Islami Jamiat-e-Tuleba, a group accused of numerous acts of violence at campuses across the country, continues its activities. Administrations have failed to bring the group under control. The fact that other student unions have been banned since the 1980s gives the group, associated with the JI, free rein to effectively seize control of educational institutions and activities at them. In the latest incident, soon after the husband of a female student at Punjab University was beaten up, another student has stepped forward saying that he was beaten and tortured by an IJT member who had apparently been expelled but was still present on the university campus. The physical abuse took place after the student reportedly verbally clashed with the IJT member. The PU administration has remained non-committal about this incident while stating that a student dismissed from the university should not be on campus. In the meanwhile, a JIT has been initiated into the case involving the female student and her husband.

For year after year, the IJT has attempted to clamp down on all kinds of social activities on campus and has tried to repress any contact between male and female students. In many cases, students have been threatened if they dare to do so much as speak to a female classmate. In the past, attempts were made to effectively segregate classrooms by placing barriers inside them. Musical concerts, plays and other festive events have been halted, sometimes through the use of violence. We can only wonder how long the IJT will be permitted to continue with its activities. Despite pledges from various chancellors and Punjab government officials, the group effectively remains unrestrained. It is also able to manage matters such as admissions into college and the awarding of grades, sometimes because professors are too scared to challenge such violent students. In such an environment, meaningful education and effective learning cannot take place. The shadow of the IJT casts fear in many places. It is up to the university administration to work with the government to achieve this. Restoring proper student unions that could offer some opposition to the IJT and its orthodox beliefs would be one way to achieve this. But no matter how it is done, this objective has to be achieved if our campuses are to recover from the oppression they have lived under for so many decades.