By: Hassan Bilal
The world has been under the siege of coronavirus since 2019. The carnage of people remains active under the auspice of this virus. The World is trying to defeat the pandemic meanwhile among umpteen measures taken by the government of Pakistan to curb this pandemic, some embodied an encyclical by the authorities to all the seminaries which put an embargo on them and all the educational activities went online. All the students’ Willy-nilly adopted an online education system so that their learning phase could move smoothly without long lapses. Just after two months, the government was set to reopen all institutions when the spread of this virus’ second wave was still at the apex and nothing was in control.
The sole purpose of the government to shut all institutions would have been to plummet the transmission rate of the virus and to decrease the mortality rate. In my speculation state would have been extorted by the oligarchy of the same henchmen who kept stabbing in the past too in the back of the system. If not then why did the government planned to garner a big flock of students in the same lee, in such a health emergency, to let the virus infect as many students as it can? Why then universities want the student to appear in physical exams after being taught online? To get answers to all mysterious and abstruse impugns students of many universities came on roads upholding a mantra, “Students want online exams” following the NUML University, Islamabad where the graduates were obliterated by the Police on the behest of civil administration on seeking their right to question. This fraternity of students which was led by many student federations started demanding online exams just to ensure the health of theirs, but their movement was misjudged & was given a name of rebellion or some sort of students’ coup.
The saga instigated, against physical exams, from governor house Lahore where the students gave a sit-in of almost twelve hours. Students culminated their sit-in after being guaranteed by the SP and the PA to broker a meeting with the governor to redress ails of students as soon as he came back from abroad. But the vow of 18th-grade officers proved later as a gambit to diffuse the mob and the same artifice was played by HEC to rift the coalition of these right seekers who were asking for the online evaluations just to jettison the hike of virus replication. It is the law of nature when grave voices are kept at back-foot and peaceful sit-ins are ignored by echelon-holders, uproar becomes fate-accompli. To shackle the cogent offices of the obscurantists, students thought of going before every university to protest peacefully against absurd policies of the universities to let them make hot spots of the virus. Amid all this outrage a number of universities had announced online exams, but a few were still lagging behind the flock. Dreary trundle came into this uncanny story when students huddled before the University of Central Punjab, Lahore.
Students were tranquil and peaceful. At once the private security of the university incurred on the dissenters with sticks and stones. Self-defense is the right of every citizen so using this right students also threw small stones and empty water bottles on them. This exchange of stones, improvised, by the security guards caused many students to sustain serious head injuries, knee fractures, and other bruises. The security guards damaged four public vehicles that were rushed nearby the university due to dead traffic. By and by a huge police force gilded with guns came in the ground and the area became a battlefield.
As many of us know the owner of the university has owned ‘Dunya News’ & ‘Lahore News HD’ so perfidious reporting added fuel to the fire. Students were called “terrorists” and “outlawed”. A few students were arrested under eccentric and baseless cases lodged by the UCP administration. Five students were kidnapped from their rented apartment at 4 am on 29th January. Their room was checked to ascertain prohibited arms, but the Police only found their books and laptops.
Mr.Zubair Siddiqui who had an interim bail was also abducted by the Punjab Police unlawfully. The same state’s police remain longer to capture the insurgents of the Sahiwal-incidence back in 2019. All the students of the state, who were asking for their legitimate rights ensured to them in chapter 1 of the constitution of 1973 of Pakistan, are still in police’s illegal custody.
The ruling party came into power advocating the students’ rights and encouraging the youth. After almost thirty-five months of ascendancy, the regime has become an overt foe of its students. All happened what the students would have been afraid of, but no notice yet was taken by the premier. If the same butchery, carnage, and illegal hegemony keep prevailing the fate of potentiated students would be vendetta rather than afflatus to remove feud where no brilliance would ever dare develop.
