26 November 2022
Staff Report
LAHORE: The annual Students’ Solidarity March held on 25 November 2022 once again called for the withdrawal of the ban on student unions in the country.
Hundreds of students and civil society activists participated in the march from Nasser Bagh to Charing Cross in the city. The students held red flags, placards, and banners with various slogans inscribed on them. The participants also demanded to end racial profiling of Baloch and Pashtun students studying in varsities of Punjab.
The participants also demanded the authorities release all missing persons especially students in the country. In 2022, a large number of Baloch university students, studying at Punjab universities, were abducted and remained missing for months.
Hundreds of students on Friday participated in the #StudentsSolidarityMarch2021 across major cities to call for the restoration of student unions, reduction in fees, and provision of missing facilities in educational institutions of the country.
Progressive Students Collective (PSC), Baloch, Seraiki, Punjabi, and Pashtun councils activists from different educational institutes of the city participated in the Students Solidarity March.
PSC president Qaiser Javed said the hefty increase in fees, enforced disappearances, and harassment on the campus were major issues for the students. He said the students from flood-affected areas could not pay the fees because their families suffered heavy losses and their belongings, including crops, cattle, and houses, were swept away by the deluge, regretting that the government took no measure to waive their fee. He said all the educational infrastructure in the flood-affected areas was damaged, creating problems for the students.
Last year, the PSC organised Students Solidarity March in several cities across the country including Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Peshawar, and Karachi.