SAC demands for withdrawal of Rangers from university, college campuses
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—The Student Action Committee Rawalpindi/Islamabad has strongly condemned the administration of Karachi University as well as the political authorities for not taking stern action against the Rangers officials who ordered the beating up of University Professor Dr. Riaz Ahmed on the 31st of March.
SAC has said that the ongoing presence of Rangers personnel on university campuses such as Karachi University makes the restoration of student unions impossible as the presence of armed forces spreads fear and inhibits the emergence of a democratic culture.
Nazish Zahoor of SAC has said that the beating up of a respected academician such as Dr. Riaz should have induced a serious reaction on the part of the new government but the Ministry of Education and the Higher Education Commission have been virtually silent on the whole affair.
He said that the Rangers beat up Dr. Riaz for no apparent reason and have subsequently filed a completely baseless FIR against him even though Dr. Riaz was clearly the aggressed party.
Nazish Zahoor said that the concerned authorities need to take action immediately, expelling those Rangers officials responsible for this act of gangsterism and simultaneously ordering the removal of all paramilitary forces from university and college campuses across the country.
Nazish Zahoor pointed out that propaganda against student unions had been built around the claim that student politics was characterised by violence and thuggery, and this remains the explanation for the presence of Rangers personnel on Karachi University’s campus even today.
However, as the current incident proves, Rangers forces themselves perpetrate violence against members of the academic community and in no circumstance can this situation be contorted to make it appear as if it is actually students that are responsible for violence on campuses.
Nazish Zahoor said that in any case the government needs to develop a code of conduct for student politics so that fringe elements that are involved in such activities are not allowed to wreak havoc and destroy the overall environment on campus.
He nevertheless reiterated the SAC’s demands for the withdrawal of Rangers personnel and other security forces from university and college campuses everywhere and warned that the government now needs to prove that it is committed to creating genuinely conducive conditions for constructive and progressive politics on campuses across the country.