Cases Against Participants of Students’ Solidarity March in Pak

Thousands of students across 50 major cities in Pakistan held rallies on Friday, 29 November, demanding restoration of their unions.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@ShahNafisa)

Police in Pakistan have arrested a youth leader and registered cases against the organisers and participants of a massive students’ rally, recently held across the country demanding restoration of student unions in campuses, media reports said on Monday, 1 December, according to PTI.

Students union were banned in 1984 by military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq and were never fully restored despite being demanded by students.

Thousands of students across 50 major cities in Pakistan held rallies on 29 November, demanding restoration of their unions and improvement in educational facilities.

The protest, termed Student Solidarity March, was organised and led by the Student Action Committee (SAC), a representative body of different student groups.

In Lahore, the Civil Lines police, on behalf of the State, registered a case on sedition charges against the organisers of the march besides 250-300 unidentified participants, the Dawn newspaper reported, according to PTI.

Zulfiqar Hameed, a capital city police officer, said the case was registered on behalf of the State because the students were delivering provocative speeches and chanting slogans against the State and its institutions.

A student leader, who was also among the organisers, was arrested by the police.

"One of the organisers Alamgir Wazir was arrested two days ago and the police would arrest other people involved in the case as well," he was quoted as saying by the paper, PTI reported.

Wazir, a former Punjab University student who went on to become chairperson of the Pakhtun Council, had gone missing from the campus two days ago, PTI reported.

The Pukhtun Council students protested against the arrest of Wazir outside the Punjab University Vice Chancellor's house.

A case under sedition charges has also been registered against Iqbal Lala, father of Mashal Khan, a student of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan was lynched by an angry mob over blasphemy allegations in 2017, the Express Tribune reported.

Meanwhile, different political leaders, including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, supported the students' demand to restore the student unions.

In response to the protest, Pakistan Prime Minster Imran Khan, on 1 December, announced that his government would restore student unions with a "comprehensive and enforceable code of conduct".

“Universities groom future leaders of the country and student unions form an integral part of this grooming,” Khan said.

(With inputs from PTI.)