Govt must not curb Students Solidarity March: HRCP

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has deplored the government’s response to the Students’ Solidarity March being held on Friday 29 November across Pakistan.

In a statement, the human rights organisation said it is alarmed by reports that students supporting the march are being harassed, facing rustication or being dislodged from their hostels in an effort to restrain them from participating.

It stated that this is a flagrant violation of their right to peaceful assembly. It further said that the propaganda being circulated on social media platforms to malign march supporters is not just repugnant but could also put them at risk of harm.

The HRCP also expressed concerns that the Governor’s Secretariat in Quetta has issued a notification to the University of Balochistan, banning all political activity and gatherings, and clearly giving security personnel the authority to prevent these.

The organisation urged the government to take the legitimate demands of the solidarity march seriously. It stated that students have the right to oppose fee hikes and budget cuts to higher education, and to call for an end to unnecessary interference by security forces on campus, for functional anti-harassment committees with student representation, and above all, for the restoration of student unions.

The Student Action Committee has called nationwide demonstrations on November 29 spearheaded by the Progressive Student Collective (PSC). The protest will take place in all major cities of the country including Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad and Quetta.

The march will see the participation of rights groups like Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement (HKM), the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign, Pakistan Bhatta Mazdoor Union, Kissan Raabita Committee, Liberal Education Foundation along with other students and workers groups.

A press conference in this regard was held at the Lahore Press Club on November 24. The Student Solidarity March will rally students and activists, who will demonstrate for their rights.

Among the list of demands is uplifting the ban on student unions, undoing the cuts on educational budget, elimination of fee hikes and privatisation of education.

The students further demand that religious vigilantism be eliminated from campuses and that peaceful and democratic environments be created across campuses nationwide. The students maintain that they want to be a part of the decision making process that decides their academic futures.

The upcoming Student Solidarity March further captured the media’s attention during the fifth Faiz International Festival, which was held in Lahore from November 15 to 17.

A video featuring Arooj Aurangzeb went viral on social media in which she was seen chanting a verse of a revolutionary poem by Bismil Azimabadi.

The Student Solidarity March last year was the first collective rally organised in years, with students gathering in Lahore and Islamabad among eight major cities.

The marchers are rallying for is the universities forcing students to sign affidavits against participation in political activities on the campus.

A more controversial demand  is against security forces’ involvement in campus activities including curbs on free speech in universities.