KARACHI: Firing a broadside on the federal government’s well-publicised intentions vis-à-vis formulating a uniform curriculum, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Senator Raza Rabbani on Sunday said the idea of designing standardised curricula by Islamabad was a serious violation of the Constitution and any committee authorised for the matter was illegal.

“After the 18th Amendment, designing of curricula is a provincial subject and any committee, which is entrusted by the federal government to design the so-called uniform curriculum, is itself illegal and unconstitutional,” said the former Senate chairman.

He was as a keynote speaker at the launch of a book on Democratic Students Federation’s movement in 1950s.

The book Sahar honay tak: DSF ki jid-do-jehad ki mukhtasir tarikh (1950-1955), written by Dr Riaz Shaikh, dean of faculty of social sciences, Szabist, was launched at the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi.

He said there should no harm if the provinces design their own curricula.

‘Certificates of patriotism’

“They don’t want to see me having a bonding with Bhagat Singh, who was a great freedom fighter. But, for me and we all, what harm it would have inflicted if Punjab includes Bhagat Singh in its curriculum. The certificates of patriotism cannot be issued from Rawalpindi. We are all patriots,” he said.

He said if the federal government was so eager to formulate uniform curricula for some reason then there were ample avenues in the Constitution. “You can summon a meeting of the Council of Common Interests to discuss this issue and forge unity among the federating units.”

Book on history of the struggle of the Democratic Students Federation launched

He said the government wanted to maintain its sway over the syllabus and not allowing revival of student unions to produce students with tamed mindsets and lame political acumen.

Mr Rabbani said the state should not make ‘test-tube’ history, as similar approaches had already harmed the country a great deal in the past.

“Writing or nurturing the test-tube history in the country can never bring good for the country. The same approach had divided the country and now is the time for those at the helm to shun all this,” he added.

He said t ban on student unions was imposed 35 years ago by dictator Gen Ziaul Haq, but the ban mainly focused on progressive student organisations while those belonging to the rightwing were free to function.

Student unions legislation should not carry restrictions

He said blaming student unions for creating and promoting violence was a farce that had been publicised by the vested interests. The truth of the matter was that the student unions had created camaraderie and intellectualism. “However, for the state, the real violence that student unions could be blamed for is that they stimulate our thought process and help us becoming good and thinking people.”

He appreciated the Sindh government for reviving student unions through legislation and asked other provinces to do the same.

However, he said that the legislation regarding student unions should not carry the load of restrictions that would not benefit reviving those unions.

Mr Rabbani said the state had ended the provincial autonomy in a pre-planned manner soon after the death of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and it tried to convert federation into a centralised system.

He said student and trade unions and coffeehouse culture, the culture of resistance, was specifically targeted by the Zia regime after his dictatorship analysed that those were the key factors behind the fall of Ayub Khan’s decade-long regime.

“The state used oppression, and employed tools of corruption to buy people to destroy student and trade unions. Similar tactics were designed to completely eliminate the culture of resistance from our society,” he added.

Dr Syed Haroon Ahmed, who presided over the programme and played an active part in the 1950s students’ movement, said it was heartening to see students across the country were protesting for the revival of their unions.

He said the voice of those students should not subside.

He appreciated the Sindh government’s bill on the revival of student unions and observed that it should not end the struggle as it would be the beginning of the real struggle.

Eminent historian Dr Mubarak Ali, who spoke over the phone, said that students played very important role in political struggles and social change.

“This is the very reason that scares the state. This is the real cause that hinders those at the helm are not allowing student unions to get restored,” said Dr Ali.

Author Dr Riaz Shaikh said the state feared critical questions that could come in its way if it allowed revival of the student unions in its original shape.

Intellectual Sohail Sangi said student unions had played a huge role in instilling creative prowess in young minds that later played a pivotal role on a broader political horizon.

Journalists Zubeida Mustafa and Bina Sarwar also spoke. Academic Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan moderated the proceedings.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2019