Rights systematically manipulated, says Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Speaking at the annual Asma Jahangir Memorial Lecture instituted by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Senator Raza Rabbani on Tuesday observed that although the Constitution protected the right to freedom of association, Pakistan had witnessed a systematic and premeditated plan on the part of the state to manipulate and deny this and other fundamental rights.

The dictatorships of Ayub Khan and Zia-ul-Haq, he said, had deliberately isolated key ingredients of the democratic struggle, including students, labourers and intellectuals. Although, the late Benazir Bhutto attempted to revive student unions in 1988, "the overarching state structure to which all political governments were, and continue to be, held hostage" prevented that from materializing. Senator Rabbani also pointed out that the judiciary’s interim order banning student unions in June 1992 was ‘a clear infringement of Article 17’ and that its subsequent decision in March 1993 to allow limited student activity was based on a flawed understanding that it was not appropriate for students to be involved in politics.

Senator Rabbani reminded his audience that student unions in Pakistan had traditionally nurtured leaders whose entry into politics was ideological. He said that his efforts to move a bill removing the Anti Sedition section 124A from the Pakistan Penal Code was inspired by the student movement in Pakistan. He said it was common practice for the state to attempt to suppress dissent by charging student leaders with sedition. It is a ‘source of shame’, he added, that students in Balochistan disappear and end up enlisted as 'missing persons'. "Parliament has raised this issue, but no progress took place beyond that."

Underscoring the HRCP’s position, honorary spokesperson I. A. Rehman said that the issue of student unions was not limited to students alone — it was a national issue and one for which all citizens must take responsibility. Thanking Senator Rabbani for addressing on the occasion, HRCP’s Chairperson Hina Jilani said that the HRCP stood alongside the students’ movement and would continue to espouse their cause.