Impacts Of Student Unions’ Election Ban on Pakistani Political Leadership
Abstract
Student politics is an indispensable -but unfortunately, under-researched and under-discussed- topic throughout the world especially in Pakistan. Pakistan’s politics and political history are incomplete without discussing this subject. Having been through many ups and downs student politics in Pakistan has played a vital role. Banned twice, restored every time, last elections held by BB in 1989, restored legally by SC -on the condition of formulating a code of conduct in 1993. In March 2008 Ex-PM Yousaf Gillani during his first speech promised to restore student unions and even got a vote of confidence over such developments. In the era of PML-N, the restoration voices were also heard. In 2017 a committee of the Senate was formed to work on the issue and draw some code of conduct in light of SC’s decision so that student unions could be restored. All that also went in vain. In the PTI government, we also heard the same voices. Mr. Imran Khan tweeted on 1 Dec 2019 saying these are nurseries of democracy we are working to restore them. Currently, neither students are legally nor politically banned nor elections of student unions but the inept political and bureaucratic elite has deprived students of their fundamental constitutional rights. To conduct this research, the qualitative methodology has been adopted. The researcher has argued that this ban has created a leadership drought in the politics of Pakistan. Data has been collected through primary as well as secondary sources. Books, research articles, news, opinions, editorials, official documents, etc. Interviews of former student leaders and now politicians either parliamentarians or not being conducted. This research will be helpful in understanding student politics, student unions and their elections, the history of the ban, its impacts, discussion by former student leaders, and a way forward. This paper will also provide a rationale for conducting student union elections with the recommendation of basic principles of the code of conduct.
Keywords: Student Politics, Constitutional Rights, Qualitative, Students Union.
