ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Students associated with the Baloch Council at the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) did not attend classes on Tuesday and protested against the expulsion and rustication of their fellow students.

On Monday, when academic activities resumed at the university after a 19-day strike, students tried to stop university buses from plying. As a result, scores of students were picked by police, a majority of whom belonged to the Baloch Council.

Though all the students were released on Tuesday, police registered three more cases against them for creating a disturbance on campus.

On Tuesday, educational activities continued at the campus without any hindrance, but Baloch students did not attend classes and held a peaceful protest and rally. They vowed to continue their strike until the restoration of two expelled and eight rusticated Baloch students.

The university had expelled and rusticated a total of 42 students after a clash between two groups in May this year. Two of the expelled and eight of the rusticated students belonged to the Baloch Council, while the others were associated with the Mehran Council.

“Our strike will continue until we get justice in shape of restoration of all the Baloch students,” said Baloch Student Council Chairman Kamran Baloch, who himself was expelled.

However, QAU Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Ashraf said the University Disciplinary Committee had penalised the students and their appeal was rejected by the university syndicate. “It’s a matter of principle. We can’t restore any expelled student,” he said.

Student bodies hold nationwide protests

With the registration of the three fresh cases, the number of cases filed against QAU students since May rose to eight.

Police officials said senior political leaders from Balochistan had approached the QAU management and offered to become guarantors for the students to resolve the crisis. They requested the university to show leniency towards the students, especially those who were expelled.

“But the response of the university management is not encouraging,” officials added.

Political leaders also approached police and promised that the students who were picked on Monday would not disrupt academic activities again.

The students also gave a similar assurance to the police and the capital administration, they added.

Reaction from academia

The situation at QAU prompted a strong reaction from several academics and students’ organisations across the country, many of whom viewed the violent crackdown against students as an infringement of their democratic right to protest and a blatant attempt to suppress dissent and critical thinking.

QAU’s own Centre of Excellence in Gender Studies issued a statement “express[ing] strong concern at the prevailing situation on campus” and appealed “to the QAU community to collectively resolve the situation through dialogue and peaceful negotiation”.

Condemning the use of violence, “whether perpetrated by students or the administration”, the statement condemned the use of police force and the subsequent arrests, saying that this could escalate the situation even further.”

Suggesting a possible route for resolution to the current impasse, the statement said: “We… propose that an open dialogue be held on campus in which students, faculty and administration can find a collective solution to the present crisis.”

Alia Amirali, who teaches at the Gender Studies department, told Dawn the faculty viewed this use of force against students as an attempt to instill fear among them and silence them. She also condemned statements from the QAU’s academic staff association, calling for the expulsion of QAU’s vice chancellor and an operation against the students.

Separately, faculty members of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) drafted a statement which was signed by academics from across the country.

“We believe that the continuing ban on student unions is having a detrimental effect on the quality of academic life across Pakistan… Students should have the right to peacefully press for their demands without the threat of state repression. The stifling of political speech and organisation, combined with the authorisation of force is altogether antithetical to the values and aspirations that many of us seek to inculcate in our classrooms.”

Several student organisations around the country held demonstrations and campaigns decrying the use of force against the protesting students. The Democratic Students Alliance in Lahore, the Progressive Students Federation in Hyderabad, the Progressive Students Collective and the National Students Federation in Karachi were among organizations that expressed solidarity with QAU students.

Karachi University instructor Riaz Ahmed said it was unfortunate that students had been made “an example of”, and added that the use of violence against protesting students was an attempt to feed the narrative that universities were becoming a site of ‘intolerance’ and ‘extremism’.

Commenting on the way student politics played out at universities, Dr Ammar Ali Jan of the Punjab University said: “Curtailing knowledge at a site of knowledge will turn universities into perpetual sites of crime.”

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2017