LAHORE: Punjab PPP General Secretary Syed Hassan Murtaza has called for a dialogue to resolve the student unions issue instead of the use of force against those seeking restoration of the forum.

At a press conference after a meeting of the United Students Front at the party secretariat here on Friday, Mr Murtaza said the Front, comprising various student organisations, demanded restoration of student unions.

Highlighting the role of student unions as a nursery for politicians, he recalled that the platform gave big names like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and Khwaja Saad Rafiq. But, he regretted, a dictator banned the unions in 1984 blaming the union leaders for being involved in criminal activities.

He said followers of this approach still existed in the country that’s against political thinking and growth.

He said the party was not against reforms related to the unions but ban on the bodies or annihilating political thinking was not a solution to the flaws in the unions. Rather, it believed that de-politicising society would lead to chaos in the country.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2024