MANY in Lahore are expressing their happiness over what is viewed in some circles here as containment of Jamiat. There are a number of friends who are ready to pat on the back the Pathans and the Baloch who have taken on the might of the once untameable monster that the Jamaat-i-Islami has nurtured under its protective wings. These liberators are hailed as the true representatives of the land, fully reciprocating the hospitality extended to them by the land of the five rivers. There are, quite suddenly, many voices condemning the Jamiat and, as is quite often the case, amidst the celebrations of expected freedoms from the yoke of a terrorising student outfit, some vital questions are conveniently set aside.

Question number one: is it correct that Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT, Jamiat for short) has lost ground to the point where its demise, or a lacklustre existence, appears imminent to some eager observers? It is a general impression, especially prevalent amongst people long hopeful of a Jamiat retreat from the scene or at least its drastic decline. There is on the other hand evidence that shows the student group is alive and well and exploring new directions according to the changed situation with the help of a well-oiled and most efficient machine in the country. As pointed out by a weary journalist who seems to be a bit irritated by all this talk of the Jamiat’s decline, the student group’s large presence is reflected in the programmes it is able to organise one after the other in a long, unending series.    

Currently the IJT is busy organising events around Pakistan Day which once again highlights its standing as one of the most active and aware political orgnaisations in Pakistan. This also proves the long maturing and now inherent Jamiat quality of hogging the stage at key moments in time. It does face challenges but the war of street optics doesn’t appear to be one of them. This is an aspect where the Jamiat excels after years of diligently and almost religiously practising the art.

Why is the country lacking in a political group that could explore the space created by the rise of the recent anti-Jamiat sentiment?

The challenges it is faced with are of a more theoretical nature and present at a point much before it takes its case to propagate in the streets. Take women for example. For ages this Jamaat agent on the campuses has thrived on taking uncomplicated anti-girl student positions. The smaller number of girl students who dared to withstand the anti-them wave in the university in, say, Lahore, lived in terror lest they wandered into territory the boys’ moral brigade didn’t consider appropriate. That has changed.

Now old students who recall those times say they have long passed. Then, the small percentage of women who were found on the campuses felt insecure because of the macho mass that they had been physically confronted with. Quite unlike now, when girl students dominate space in colleges and universities generally and in so many ways.

At the Punjab University, which the Jamiat dominated, young women now make up 52 per cent of the total students. They dominate in their own little quite civilised way, faring much better than boys in all disciplines and mocking all those forever keen on placing halters of this or that kind  to restrict their movement. They have quite earned the freedom to choose their politics but it will be no surprise if, given its past, a large number among them do not take too kindly to any Jamiat plans about their emancipation.

Another very important question that has been eclipsed by the celebratory fire greeting Jamiat’s fall relates to the identity and (positive) profiling of our saviours in this instance. It is all very pleasing to find a section of Lahore shrugging off its prejudices to congratulate outside ethnic groups for their valour in dealing with the problems here. It is indeed encouraging to have guests in town finding the Lahore air conducive to pursue their culture within the ethnic identity they appear to be so proud of. But having said all this, why is the city, or the province or the country lacking in a political group that could come forward to explore this space that has been created by the rise of the anti-Jamiat sentiment in the recent past?

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf could perhaps have claimed some of the available space on the campus. It failed because of reasons that have been often discussed but chiefly because Imran Khan has shown little interest in organising a student wing whereas the move could pay him rich dividends, particularly in Punjab. However, the indifference to establishing potentially such a vital organ to further the party’s cause would have been harder to understand if we didn’t already have available to us such a prominent example of how big political parties in Pakistan, in Punjab, have in recent years been so reluctant to associate themselves with student leaders.

It’s been a couple of decades, perhaps even longer, since PML-N had a student leader worth the title in its armoury. There were a handful of them who flourished under the Muslim Students’ Federation’s banner in the 1980s and 1990s, before the breed vanished just as abruptly as it had emerged. They all went away one by one, killed in an encounter or meeting some similar violent end. It can be safely presumed that for the last 20 years or so, PML-N is keeping its distance from backing student groups as a policy. Considering its large presence in Punjab it was the party most likely and capable of contesting space with Jamiat at colleges in the province. The PML-N leadership chose to abstain — in continuation of its old approach of not involving any party organisation and trained party cadres at any level. It quietly chooses to leave the field clear for the Pakhtun and the Baloch.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2017