Rabbani says critical thinking is being trifled

ISLAMABAD: Senate’s former chairman Raza Rabbani condemned the arrest of Prof Ammar Ali Jan under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. “The rallies are peaceful and all the participants do not incite to violence nor they are armed,” he said in a statement Monday. Rabbani said the student movement demands for free education, committees against sexual harassment on campus, provision of internet facilities and restoration of student unions. He said the object of the movement is to assail the university administration for promoting a fascist culture where critical thinking is trifled and teachers who encourage their students to voice independent views are shown the door, like Dr Sami of the Balochistan University, are kidnapped. “The government should ensure his recovery immediately,” he added. He said the movement calls for grand alliance of the working classes to take the back the rights that the capitalists have snatched from them. He said Pakistan today shows little tolerance for progressive ideas, because they make for a troublesome populist narrative that refuse to sacrifice its rights and freedoms at the alter of narratives that serve only a selected few. Rabbani said many decades ago a student movement changed the course of history in Pakistan. “Are the authorities’ affairs will lead to the same,” he added.