HYDERABAD: Speakers at a ‘youth conference’ called for lifting of the ban on student unions and urged youths to launch a struggle for their rights. The conference was held at the local press club under the auspices of the Progressive Students Collec­tive (PSC), Hyderabad chapter, on Saturday.

Qaumi Awam Tehreek (QAT) leader Ayaz Latif Palijo told the audience that youths were, in fact, strength of society and if they decided to challenge tyranny then they would become invincible. He said Sindh had been made “a colony of corruption” as there was no merit while educational institutions had been held hostage by the corrupt.

He said considering the modern era, people would have to determine their own course because changing conditions required people to change themselves. Students had been kept away from politics by the corrupt in order to protect their corruption, he said, adding that if politics did not show adaptation to changing conditions, such politics would lose its own existence. Left wing politics, he said, needed to be understood.

“One may ask why left wing politics could not become an alternative option; the answer is that it could not probably connect itself with the masses and their fundamental issues,” he said.

Leftists also did not connect themselves with the ‘national question’ of Sindh, he said. Progressive forces would have to link their demand with Sindh’s water and other pressing issues, he added.

Former Democratic Students Federation leader Imdad Chandio said students and youths always challenged dictatorships but nobody was ready to talk about them. Awareness had increased now; the Students Action Comm­ittee was formed in the Bhutto era and it challenged the ban on freedom of expression. He said he along with others had raised voice for Balochistan when a military operation was launched there. Students also challenged the Zia regime, he recalled, and said their leader, Nazir Abbasi, was killed.

Youths and students could challenge any tyranny peacefully and in an organised manner, said Chandio, adding that with the strength of ideological narrative, he and his colleagues never bowed before any tyrant.

Women rights activist Amar Sindhu said that different movements for revolution in the past had been a sign of encouragement and power. She said that today, students failed to decide which sides to switch over to. She added that today youths did not have those movements of the past in front of them and they were finding a path. So, she said, youths were disappointed Mohammad Zubair Siddiqui, a central member of the PSC, said his organisation was founded in 2016 and had been holding rallies for the restoration of student unions. Work was under way in Sindh for legislation on the subject while a march for the cause would be held in Punjab on Feb 9, he said.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2022