A recent attempt to stop the way of student unions in Pakistan

Governor NWFP Pakistan, Owais Ghani has written to Prime Minister Pakistan Gillani a letter emphasizing that student unions shall not be started again in educational institutes(http://www.jang-group.com/jang/jul2009-daily/25-07-2009/main4.htm), if I remember it correctly, it was one of the first and most welcomed announcements of Gillani when he took oath as Prime Minister Pakistan.I am not sure what are the credentials of Mr. Ghanni (besides he is Governor, well lets not talk about it :)) and how much developed is his historical awareness and political background.

History tells us that students have played a central role in most of the political movements around the globe, not only this, but the leaders have been produced from the student unions themselves, who knows it better than Gillani himself. I wonder how easily anyone can defy the very basic human rights in Pakistan on any pretext. Lets not forget that the unions were banned by Zia because he was very well aware of their power and potential threat to his government. When students become unite and come forward along with other political forces of country, there are a force which can not be easily defeated, youth is the power of any nation, and with proper guidance they can be the front force of any movement, they have those qualities of believe, motivation, consistency, willingness and courage which can change the outlook of any movement all together; being educated they are more disciplined and can easily be managed. In Pakistan students were the front force in all political uprisings for example against Ayub Khan, in East-Pakistan against Army, against Bhutto and then in movement against Zia as well. And they were organized because of the tradition of student unions, in which they had to participate democratically and unions were providing them a platform to learn organizational and political skills. Moreover, in Unions only those were able to retain themselves who were getting elected, in other words their leaders and the parties have to be aligned with the students of the institute they belonged to. They have to work and show progress to get elected again or be in the mainstream, they were answerable to the common student. And it was by no mean necessary that a union or its representatives or elected organization would belong to a political party.

Everything however was changed in Zia era, and as elections or union were banned, every Tom, Dick and Harry was able to form a party and do whatever they want, they were not answerable to any one inside the institutes, because they were self acclaimed and they were looking outside for the support, hence the role of political parties inside student politics was increased, and corruption set deep inside student politics. And this unguided, uncontrollable, undemocratic and unjustified tradition is primarily responsible for every evil Mr. Ghanni tried to link with the student unions.

I remember in my university, there was a student party whose members can be counted on finger tips, but they set on equal footings with other much larger student parties, because they belonged to a mainstream party of the country, they had all resources, links and connections to make their presence felt. They had connections in the university administration, and they had influence over teachers as well. I am sure this would not have been the situation if union will be there, a party of 12 people was not able to win any election and they would have been vanished if there would have been a democratic process and union system in place.

I also have seen the student organizations and educational institutes in very city of Mr. Ghanni Peshawar along with other cities, and I know how system works there, I can say very confidently that the cause of trouble is presence of Law enforcement agencies in the educational institutes, direct involvement of mainstream mother political parties, no involvement of the students at large in creation of the student parties and no answerability of the student parties’ leadership in their own ranks.

As far as the will of parents to send their children to educational institutes of repute and all other rhetoric of Mr. Ghanni is concerned, may I ask if institutes like Islamia College, Peshawar University, Punjab University, Dow medical college, Karachi University and many others had bad reputation in 50s or 60s? I think all parents of today if they are graduate or more, must have had belong to one or other of these institutes, and they must not be ashamed of the fact that there were student unions in their own days, and that they too belonged to them. I am also sure they all know that there was no law and order situation in education institutes like it was during and after Zia.

Besides student unions by definition and laws are not actually required to be a political platform, they are independent bodies elected by eligible student of an institute. The fact that they take political outlook comes from their elective bodies. But if they are elected, it means the students who elect them have no objection on their representatives belonging to a political idea or party. If they have no objection, why Mr. Ghanni has? Whose interest is he trying to save, his masters and companions, the undemocratic forces in Pakistan or the students and parents? Besides as I said there is no reason for a union to be a political outfit.

Columns and Columnists- - - - In Urdu Newspapers

I usually spent an hour or two daily reading online newspapers of Pakistan, mostly Urdu like Jang (www.jang-group.com), Nawa-e-Waqt (http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk), Khabrain (http://www.khabrain.com) and Ummat (http://www.ummatpublication.com), the only English newspaper for which I am a subscriber and frequent visitor, is Dawn (www.dawn.com). I go to Urdu newspapers, because of my thirst for reading in Urdu, and because I want to know what news and views ordinary Pakistanis are provided with. It is not unreasonable, because newspapers also provide a picture of society, as well as their readership, for argument’s sake there is a stark difference between Dawn and any other Urdu newspaper. Here I want to write in brief about the scholarly level of the columns of Urdu papers and the opinion they are creating and how this opinion contributes to make over of our already miserable and improgressive society.

Those who write for these papers are journalists, and they are supposed to have a certain level of scholarship along with specialization in the field they write about, for example history, public relations or politics. I usually refer online dictionaries for searching the meaning of words, here I have consulted www.dictionary.net:

Meaning of the word ‘journalist’:

Journalist \Jour"nal*ist\, n. [Cf. F. journaliste.]

1. One who keeps a journal or diary. [Obs.]

--Mickle.

2. The conductor of a public journal, or one whose business it to write for a public journal; an editorial or other professional writer for a periodical. --Addison.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/journalist)

Meaning of word ‘scholar’:

Scholar \Schol"ar\, n. [OE. scoler, AS. sc[=o]lere, fr. L. scholaris belonging to a school, fr. schola a school. SeeSchool.]

1. One who attends a school; one who learns of a teacher; one under the tuition of a preceptor; a pupil; a disciple; a learner; a student.

I am no breeching scholar in the schools. --Shak.

2. One engaged in the pursuits of learning; a learned person; one versed in any branch, or in many branches, of knowledge; a person of high literary or scientific attainments; a savant. --Shak. Locke.

3. A man of books. --Bacon.

4. In English universities, an undergraduate who belongs to the foundation of a college, and receives support in part from its revenues.

Syn: Pupil; learner; disciple.

Usage: Scholar, Pupil. Scholar refers to the instruction, and pupil to the care and government, of a teacher. A scholar is one who is under instruction; a pupil is one who is under the immediate and personal care of an instructor; hence we speak of a bright scholar, and an obedient pupil.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/scholar)

Meaning of word ‘specialist’:

Specialist \Spe"cial*ist\, n. One who devotes himself to some specialty; as, a medical specialist, one who devotes himself to diseases of particular parts of the body, as the eye, the ear, the nerves, etc.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/specialist)

Here I got another word ‘devotion’, we must look at its meaning as well:

Devotion \De*vo"tion\, n. [F. d['e]votion, L. devotio.]

1. The act of devoting; consecration.

2. The state of being devoted; addiction; eager inclination; strong attachment love or affection; zeal; especially, feelings toward God appropriately expressed by acts of worship; devoutness.

Genius animated by a fervent spirit of devotion. --Macaulay.

3. Act of devotedness or devoutness; manifestation of strong attachment; act of worship; prayer. ``The love of public devotion.'' --Hooker.

4. Disposal; power of disposal. [Obs.]

They are entirely at our devotion, and may be turned backward and forward, as we please. --Godwin.

5. A thing consecrated; an object of devotion. [R.]

Churches and altars, priests and all devotions, Tumbled together into rude chaos. --Beau. & Fl.

Syn: Consecration; devoutness; religiousness; piety; attachment; devotedness; ardor; earnestness.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/devotion)

There are other words we must look at when we want to verify attributes of a writer specially a journalist, for example career, education, school of thought, affiliations etc. All these attributes will help us understand the credibility of a writer. Yes, another important word for us is credibility, actually this is the real word I want to emphasise being looked upon before any one start to believe a writer of mass media.

Credibility \Cred`i*bil"i*ty\ (kr[e^]d`[i^]*b[i^]l"[i^]*t[y^]), n. [Cf. F. cr['e]dibilit['e].]

The quality of being credible; credibleness; as, the credibility of facts; the credibility of witnesses.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/credibility)

I think this is enough for us to look for before we start to get our brain affected by what we are reading. We must understand that the credentials of a writer are very important, specially when writer is writing for the public.

Without any prejudice and without being agreed with their thoughts and opinions, I am sure one can be easily satisfied on credibility of Ibrahim Jalees, Majeed Lahori, Raees Amrohavi, Ibn-e-Insha, Faiz, Nadeem Ahmed Qasmi, and in contemporaries Jameel Aali, Farooq Qaiser, Hassan Nisar and few others. My list is too short as I do not want to emphasize on names, but my motive is to emphasize on character and credibility.

And why is this so important? How the credibility of writer is important and how it affects the mass opinion? Well writers do reflect the society they belong to, and as such they are mirrors, they are part of the society and can not be separated from it, still they play an important role in opinion building and changing the mood of society, they are the recruiters for the school of thought or interest they belong to, and in this capacity they are responsible and their credibility is important. If we have writers who are corrupt, a commodity in the market, or so much biased and prejudiced that they do not want to listen to others and can not bear disagreement; then we shall be cautious.

I will give one example from the current affairs and columns appearing in newspapers these days without giving a specific name or example. It is a common thread among most of writers and it is written repeatedly that Taliban are supported by India and USA. Well, it can be true but this is not the whole truth, remaining truth which shall be equally emphasized and it is being emphasized by very few, is that Taliban are a product of Pakistan’s establishment, and for sure they represent a faction of our society as well and as such they are still supported from amongst us, we can not blame others for our mistakes, others will come to take advantage but it is us who are responsible to clean the mess and undo the mistakes. My question, how many of our writers, scholars and journalists are conveying this message? And forming public opinion to be critical of our own regime and establishment?

And as such, where shall we classify them?

Not you ! Your VISA .............

"In a poor zoo in Pakistan, a lion was frustrated as he was offered not More than 1 kg of meat a day.

The lion thought its prayers were answered, when one day; a UAE Zoo Manager visited the zoo and requested the zoo management to shift the lion to Dubai Zoo.

The lion was so happy and started thinking of a central A/C environment, a goat or two every day.

On its first day after arrival, the lion was offered a big bag, sealed very nicely for breakfast. The lion opened it quickly but was shocked to see that it contained few bananas. The lion thought, may be, they cared too much for him as they were worried about his stomach as he had recently been shifted from Pakistan.

The next day the same thing happened. On the third day, again the same food bag of bananas was delivered.

The lion was so furious; it stopped the delivery boy and blasted at him, 'don't you know I am the lion...king of the Jungle..., what's wrong with your management? What nonsense is this? Why are you delivering bananas to me?

The delivery boy politely said, 'Sir, I know you are the king of the jungle ... but... you have been brought here on a monkey's visa!!!"

It is a joke, a joke which is very very much connected with the reality. In background of how human resources and employment works in Middle East, it is how the system works. And it happens when an organization really need a person with specific skills but they do not have visa allocated for that profession due to any reason, they hire that person, and allocate him visa from the available slots, hence a doctor can be working on a mason's visa.

On Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson died...........well not a news any more, his funeral is the current news, and that is how it will go on and get settled. Most interesting was the debate in few circles that he was a Muslim, and if he will be buried in Islamic manner.

I think there must be a limit on our affiliation with any person, I am not interested in Michael Jackson's private life very much, though there are many interesting aspects of complexity of human nature and relations in his life. Still I am not very interested in Michael as a son, or husband or father. I, like many millions, am a fan of Michael Jackson the singer and musician, and I know that musician will live forever, he has not died and he will not die. His music is so full of patience, rhythm, versatility and appeal that I am sure he will be liked by future generations as well.

I will never forget "heal the world" and "we are the world", neither I will forget "thriller", "black or white", "bad" or "girl is mine", "liberian girl", "smooth criminal", "history". He was one of the few musicians who influenced cultures and people globally.

Not only this, but we shall remember his charities, and his thoughts on inequality and poverty in the world as well.