World | Pakistan
Row worsens over music course in Punjab University
The disagreement between the Punjab University administration and the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami about the proposed holding of music classes has deepened.
- By Amir Mir, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 May 19, 2006
Lahore: The disagreement between the Punjab University administration and the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami about the proposed holding of music classes has deepened.
The vice-chancellor has rejected the recent warning of Islami Jamiat Tuleba (IJT) not to begin music classes in the university, saying his administration would stick to its plans come what may.
The IJT had warned the vice-chancellor Arshad Mahmood last week not to allow the proposed holding of music classes in the university as it was against the basic teachings of Islam. The IJT warning came after the university decided to set up a Music Department and begin a two-year master's degree in Musicology on the direction of Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool, who is also the Chancellor of the university.
The curriculum has been prepared and approved by the advisory and statuary bodies of the university including the Board of Studies and was about to be presented to the Academic Council for approval when the IJT announced resistance to the plan, describing it un-Islamic and against the ideology of Pakistan.
The IJT, usually called Jamiat, has long been a force in the university and some recent events indicate that its powers are on the rise because of the soft approach the administration has adopted towards it. The Punjab governor has now directed the administration to adopt a harsh stance to nip the evil in the bud.
Some 23,000 students attend the university, a place that the government hopes will foster values of enlightened moderation.
However, some faculty members say that their tolerant and liberal viewpoints are facing an increasingly tough challenge.
And students say they have seen IJT activists beat others whose public behaviour they deem unacceptable.
The members of the IJT, who number some 5,000 all over Pakistan, say they promote Islamic values by policing student behaviour in campuses.
As Muslims, IJT members say, they believe that Pakistan should be governed by Sharia, but say they do not support the use of force. "We want to make a democratic system," says Shabir Ahmed, another IJT leader. "If people don't like Islam, we will not compel them."
Critics, however, say that IJT's strongarm tactics in Punjab university exposes their ideological agenda.
They pointed out that only last month, IJT activists tortured a male student of the Social Work Department because he was "publicly" sitting with a female fellow student, which they believed was tantamount to obscenity.
In one example highlighted by the local press, IJT activists allegedly beat a newly married couple whom they mistakenly thought were flirting in public. IJT activists deny such charges. "This is false propaganda. There is not one incident in which IJT workers beat students," says Nasurallah Khan Goraya, a central leader.
Four years ago, IJT spearheaded a movement for a walled-off cafeteria for women, points out Professor Mujahid Mansoori.
"They would not allow a single boy and girl to sit alone," he says, adding, "When I was a student 30 years ago, it was a lot more liberal."
He added that the incident is but one example of IJT's growing power, despite the fact that IJT is technically banned from campuses, the result of a 1992 Supreme Court ruling aimed at ending decades of political violence at universities.
However, the Jamiat's attempts to obstruct co-ed activities are not a new phenomenon as it has been harassing students for a long time. Acting under IJT pressure, the university authorities have even banned male and female students from traveling together on academic or recreational field trips.
RADICAL SHIFT
Crackdown on student organisation
Pakistan's largest university has launched a crackdown on a radical Islamic student organisation which set up a parallel administration and attempted to impose Taliban-style rules of conduct on the campus.
The confrontation at the Punjab University in Lahore reflects the growing struggle between secular authorities and religious zealots to mould the country's identity. Students complain that activists from Islami Jamiat Tuleba (IJT) beat those whose public behaviour they regard as immoral.
Members of the group have also been accused of intimidating critics and of operating a freelance admissions scheme, promising to support impoverished students whom they enrol at the 124-year-old university.
Prof Mohammad Akram Chaudhry, director of the halls of residence, said: 'The hooligans of the IJT want to take over the university and coerce the administration....They have tried to establish parallel admission offices and to take over hostels and transport. They have resorted to violence to enforce their own Taliban-style moral policy."
- The Telegraph Group Limited
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