Report
Islamabad – Hundreds of students from across the twin cities educational institutions as well as student leaders from other parts of Pakistan gathered on Saturday October 16, 2021 evening at Shah Abdul Lateef Bhittai Auditorium for the convention of the left-wing Progressive Students Federation Islamabad-Rawalpindi (PrSF Isb-Rwp), vowing to build connections with students and youth across Pakistan so as to resist the ongoing corporatization of education and the anti-people capitalist system in all spheres of society. The convention brought together not only students but also academics, trade unionists, political workers and artists. The event was crowned by a magical theatre performance by PrSF titled “Qafs” and a musical performance by Hamraz band.
PrSF elected its new cabinet: President Ikram Ullah Maseed, Vice president Faryal Rashid, General Secretary Fatima Shehzad, Secretary education and training ShahRukn e Alam, Secretary Information and Broadcasting Asad Juttah, Secretary of Finance Maqsoom Hussain, Secretary Arts and Culture Farhan Abbasi. Speaking on the occasion, newly elected General Secretary of PrSF Isb-Rwp, Fatima Shehzad highlighted that students across Pakistan have been systematically weaned off progressive politics since the Zia dictatorship, and displaced by violent and bigoted state-sponsored thugs. The standard of education has declined drastically and the classist education system has further exacerbated inequality in education which carries forward to the job market.
President PrSF Isb-Rwp Ikram Ullah Maseed talked about how students are forced to sign an affidavit while enrolling at higher educational institutions that they will not partake in any political activity, thus alienating them from the affairs of the wider society. He warned that this policy has had disastrous effects and that Pakistan’s current youth bulge – 150 million Pakistanis are under the age of 23 – demands that a conscious and progressive youth not only take an interest in but organize collectively to redress Pakistan’s many outstanding structural crises. In this regard, PrSF Isb-Rwp vice president Faryal Rashid demanded that the state lift the ban on student unions which has been upheld by the Supreme Court since 1993.
Former NSF student leader and current leader of the Awami Workers Party, Alia Amirali said that the only alternative for the youth is to organize in a revolutionary struggle against the systems that perpetuate and thrive on this exploitation, prioritizing their greed, above, and at the cost of the fundamental rights to education, health, housing, and recreation of the all of Pakistan’s people. She said that students have always been at the forefront of political struggle, most notably against the Ayub dictatorship, and progressive ideals of equality of nations, genders and religions continue to inform the struggle of PrSF today. She said that the combination of capitalism and the establishment-centric political order in Pakistan is driving young people and society more generally to the brink of implosion and it only if progressives come together that genuine social transformation in the interests of all future generations of Pakistanis can be fomented. She rejected the narrative of the PTI government as being a party of the ‘youth’ and noted that more young people are today frustrated and alienated than ever before. If progressive organizations do not bring such youth into their ranks, they will be driven towards toxic state nationalism and the weaponization of religion.
Different students’ leaders expressed their views on students’ rights issues including outgoing PrSF’s leader Minhaj Swati; deputy general secretary Jammu Kashmir National Students Federation, Mujeeb Akber; president PrSF Buner, Shabnam Buneri and president Revolutionary Students Federation Isb-Rwp, Umer Abdullah. Other speakers included Ayaz Safdar Sindhu, AWP Punjab, Youth Secretary and Sana Afraz, General Secretary, Women Democratic Front Islamabad. Among the participants, members of Women Democratic Front’s, Civil Society’s Tahira Abdullah, AWP’s Aasim Sajjad Akhter, Prof. Shahjahan, Farman Ali, Bashir Hussain Shah; Meer Inam Khan PrSF KP were also included.
Progressive Students Federation (PrSF) was founded on December 21, 2014 in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by left-wing socialist political leader Fanoos Gujjar. In 2015, PrSF Swat unit was established. In 2016, PrSF was started in Hyderabad, Sindh, after that PrSF units were formed in different cities of Sindh. In Islamabad, PrSF was started in 2017.
Progressive Students Federation is a continuation of National Students’ Federation (NSF), which was formed in 1956 after the Democratic Students Federation (DSF) was banned in 1954. DSF had been an active left-wing political force, which has struggled tirelessly for the rights of students. NSF played a major role in the popular student and labour uprising against the dictatorship in 1967 and 1968.
Ever since student unions were banned in 1984, students have been facing ever-increasing problems since the crackdown on left-wing politics and students’ organizations. Left-wing political activities that raise the issues faced by workers, women and students, are subjected to censorship by the authority. Keeping this context in mind, PrSF has paved the way for student politics again and has campaigned for their issues. The aim of PrSF is to raise political and social awareness among students so that they stand for their democratic rights.
An excellent stage play was prepared and performed in PrSF Isb-Rwp’s convention in collaboration with another student group to highlight the nature of class exploitation, patriarchy, privatization, capitalism which are the prime causes of misery and suffering to the youth and other members of society. The play was directed by the PrSF’s newly elected Art and Culture Secretary Farhan Abbasi. Great musical performance was carried out by Humraz Band when they sang the revolutionary songs with the audience.
