A Pashtun student holds up a sign at the march in Lahore | Murtaza Ali/White Star **The HQ**
Two days after the march, there is still plenty to do at the SAC office and students occupy almost every square metre of space. For the past month, the Student Solidarity March was being planned in an office space on the fourth floor of a nondescript building. The entire campaign is run on donations.
Most of these students have been up all night, protesting the disappearance of Alamgir Wazir, a Pakhtun student activist who spoke at the march and is the nephew of MNA Ali Wazir, who was arrested on allegations of involvement in anti-state activities. Along with missing Alamgir, activists Dr Ammar Ali Jan, Farooq Tariq and Iqbal Lala, Mashal Khan’s father, have been charged with sedition for participating in the students’ march.
At the office, there is a sense of urgency. The question of what they should do to respond hangs in the air. Eventually it is decided to make a video responding to the sedition charges. The young students begin to prepare for the tasks that lie ahead of them, conscious that they are about to do something unprecedented.
“The students of today have never seen student unions in this country, they are not part of our imagination of how a university functions,” Mudabbir, an activist from Gilgit Baltistan, tells Eos. When asked how they would like to respond to the criticisms being levelled at them, they claim that new movements are never imagined as organic but are framed right from the beginning as suspicious. Student unions, they claim, have acquired a bad reputation because there is little understanding of what student unions do. “If anyone criticises us for being elite or influenced by the West, the only thing I can say in response is that we are not just fighting for ourselves, but for everyone,” argues Mudabbir.
“The movement is also criticised because there are women at the forefront,” adds Ahmed. “But women are suffering the most at the hands of universities. Campuses are not safe for them, the lack of scholarships and hostel facilities affect them even more and that is why they are at the frontlines today,” she says. “Women have to be a part of this, as does the transgender community. We want these people to come together, for this to be an intersectional movement.”
That is the hope. After tirelessly listing their demands and explaining their motives, a sense of hope fills the room. “We are very hopeful, especially after the march,” says Ahmed. “We are witnessing history right now,” adds Ali. “People from all walks of life have come together, and it is students who have brought them together.”
The committee plans to keep the momentum of the march going. “A framework has to be developed for the formation of student unions,” says Zahid Ali. “And students have to be a part of this conversation. If no steps towards this are taken within the next few months, then we will consider a sit-in in Islamabad for the restoration of student unions.”
A few hours later, the Student Action Committee uploads the video. In it, the organisers extend their gratitude to everyone who came out to support the Student Solidarity March, before addressing the intimidation they are currently facing.
“Who is labelled a traitor in this country?” one of them asks. “Should Iqbal Lala, who protests against the horrible lynching of his son, be labelled a traitor?” One by one, each student speaks, directly addressing university administrations and government officials. They all look into the camera with resolve, as if to say this is just the beginning, and we are here to stay.
Header: Marchers sing at the Student Solidarity March in Karachi | Shakil Adil /White Star
The writer is a freelance journalist based in Lahore. She tweets @amnachaudhry03
Published in Dawn, EOS, December 8th, 2019