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Students plan to 'unite in protest
LAHORE, Nov 09, 2007: Student bodies of the Beaconhouse National University (BNU) and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and the Punjab University Academic Staff Association (PUASA) on Thursday planned to form an organisational communication structure to "unite students against the imposition of emergency".
BNU Black Day: BNU students observed Thursday as Black Day. Above 250 students attended a discussion on the current political situation. Many of them were dressed in black and all had butterflies made of black ribbons pinned to their arms.
Saleema Hashmi, dean of Visual Arts at the BNU, addressed the discussion. Ms Hashmi was released on Wednesday after she was arrested on Monday along with 54 people from the office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan for attending a discussion on the emergency.
She said she had enjoyed the arrest because many people were bringing in food for the arrested people. She said Articles 1 and 18 of the constitution gave the people the right to seek and impart information. She said nobody should be subjected to arbitrary arrest.
Ms Hashmi said the police had mistreated the arrested people. She said they told her that they had thrown reporters out and nobody would know about her arrest. She said that while being released, she was told not to attend anti-emergency meetings for 90 days.
Some LUMS students also participated in the discussion. They said the situation called for all students of the country to unite.
LUMS sets parameters for debates: The LUMS administration has issued a notice announcing rules for peaceful on-campus discussions on the emergency. The notice said all debates and discussions would be held at the Sports Complex during lunch breaks. The rallies would be taken from the Sports Complex to the mosque, behind the academic block and up to the canteen. No outsider will be allowed to participate.
Hundreds of students gathered at the Sports Complex on Thursday. After a debate on the emergency and the ordinances putting curbs on the media they dispersed shouting "No to Martial Law".
PUASA protest: The PUASA held its general body meeting on Thursday and held a peaceful march on the PU campus against the emergency. They also announced that they would soon start an anti-emergency campaign in collaboration with other universities. Teachers and students also marched on the campus – from the Chemical Engineering Auditorium to the PU main gate – against the emergency.
FAST: The administration of the FAST-NU has stopped its students from anti-emergency activities.
Security heightened: Security was heightened at the LUMS, BNU, and PU. The BNU administration has hired a private security force, which was deployed all over the campus and barred 'unwanted people' from entering the varsity. Daily Times
LUMS and BNU echo with anti-emergency chants: The Emergency Times launched
LAHORE: Student protests continued apace on Thursday amid indications that protestors are becoming better organised and developing a coherent command structure, as well as launching for the first time a cross-campus newsletter, The Emergency Times.
Thousands of photocopies of the nine-page polemic, which details goings-on across universities in the whole of Pakistan and issues an urgent call to action, were circulated across the city's universities.
Though a disclaimer makes it clear that the newsletter is not affiliated with any political party or social group, it is perhaps telling that it originates from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), which has till date taken a leading role in the burgeoning student movement.
At the LUMS campus, police in heavy riot gear and armed with tear gas maintained a heavy presence outside the main gate for the third day running, what the students said, to intimidate both students on the inside and reporters on the outside.
Student leader Imran (whose name has been changed to protect his identity) said that a rally began early afternoon when Prof Aasim Sajjad, recently released from jail, roused the students with an inspiring speech, followed by speeches from other students.
Around 300 students proceeded to march peacefully through the campus and were met by Vice Chancellor Dr Syed Zahoor Hassan who informed them to remain in the sports complex or near the cafeteria, not to approach the main gate, and remain peaceful.
Imran said: "We are developing this movement on-campus for the time being and organising ourselves. When the time is right we will take to the streets."
His comments were re-iterated by another student leader, Hashim (a pseudonym) across town at Beaconhouse National University (BNU), where students held a peaceful protest that brought together around 50 students in the main courtyard area of the Zafar Ali road campus.
Hashim said: "We don't fear arrest but it's a matter of timing and it's about the cause: we must do our utmost for the cause and getting arrested too early won't help that way."
Reporters were barred from entering the premises after police issued strict instructions to guards there not to allow in outsiders. Dawn was able, however, to gain access to the area and witness speeches by students and faculty, including recently released professor and activist Salima Hashmi.
In an emotionally charged speech, Prof Hashmi detailed the events that led to her incarceration on Sunday night before concluding her speech by urging students to protect their basic freedoms as enshrined in the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Prof Hashmi later said: "What makes this exciting is the fact that this is a very de-politicised generation we're talking about.
"The sixties and seventies were different, but since the break-up of the student union and labour union movements under Zia, that really died off. These are complicated issues we're dealing with -– the assault on the third pillar of state, and so now it's the intelligentsia where the movement is taking root," she continued.
Describing the mood on campus as "tense but exhilarating", Hashim said: "This is a protracted fight and we're in for the long-run. The eventual aim is to get politics back to the students, and for that to happen we need to break the class-barrier and bridge the gap between public and private universities, making alliances across all sorts of groups."
The students' next move, he says, will be to co-ordinate simultaneous on-campus protests. The Emergency Times also announced Iqbal Day rallies will be held on Friday (today), quoting as reference Allama Iqbal's statement: "Allah never changes the condition of a nation until they, first change what is in themselves." Dawn
QAU students protest against emergency rule continues
ISLAMABAD: Numerous Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) students on Thursday staged a rally outside the university premises against the proclamation of emergency rule in the country and suspension of the constitution on November 3.
The students and QAU faculty members protest entered the fourth day. The students, who were earlier protesting on the university premises, marched towards the Constitution Avenue but the law enforcement agencies personnel stopped them. The students raised anti-government slogans.
A senior official of the QAU said that the university administration was concerned about the student march. He said angry students could damage the public property. He said the administration had requested the students to avoid protest demonstration outside the university premises. The protesting students said they could go to any extent to press the government to end the state of emergency and restore the constitution. They said the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) would not be accepted.
They also demanded reinstatement of deposed chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The students were wearing black armbands. However, they dispersed peaceful. Daily Times
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Education News| Updated: 09 Jan, 2009 |
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