Progressive Students Federation
Islamabad: Scores of students from across the twin cities educational institutions gathered on evening at regional office of the left-wing Progressive Students Federation Islamabad-Rawalpindi (PrSF Isb-Rwp) in G-9 Markaz, Islamabad for the second its annual congress. They vowed 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.
PrSF elected its new cabinet members including Fatima Shahzad as general secretary, Syed Ali Raza as secretary education and training, Shahalam Tariq as secretary information and broadcasting and Mustafa Tariq Wynne as secretary of finance.
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.
Secretary education and training Syed Ali Raza 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’s secretary information and broadcasting Shahalam Tariq demanded that the state lift the ban on student unions which has been upheld by the Supreme Court since 1993.
Mustafa Tariq Wynne, secretary of finance 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. He 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.
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.
