List of student federations of Pakistan
The Student Organizations of Pakistan have been growing in popularity and significance over the past few years. This has been attributed to the increasing social disparity between the younger and older generation of the country. 66% of population of Pakistan is currently under the age of 30, and approximately only 5% of the population is over the age of 65. Researchers have noted the significance of political youth organizations in social environments such as these, and have project that the youth organizations in Pakistan will help define the future of the nation over the next few years. Reporters have noted that Pakistan’s political climate is in a current state of divisive unrest. Political actions taken within the country have simultaneously sparked public celebrations and large-scale riots. Due to the demographics of the country, the population under the age of 30 has been very involved in these public actions, and the youth and student organizations within the country have been prominent in the formation of some of these actions.
Background
The first student political group in Pakistan was the Muslim Students Federation. Started in 1947, as a student wing of the Muslim League, the Muslim Students Federation held prominence in Pakistan until the Muslim League splinted shortly after coming to power. The 1950s saw the rise of two kinds of political student parties; Left leaning Marxist parties like the Democratic Students Federation, and religious right wing parties like Anjuman Talba-e-islam and Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba. The leftist groups were not treated kindly by the ruling powers at the time, and in 1953 during a protest led by the Democratic Student Federation, the police shot into the crowd killing six students. The next year the same group was banned from the country for its possible ties to the Communist party of Pakistan, followed shortly thereafter by a ban of its successor group the All Pakistan Students Organization. These groups were succeeded by yet another leftist group, the National Students Federation, which continues on to this day.The student unions in the 1960s were characterized primarily as a struggle for power between the Maoist-Soviet leaning left and the religious right, with the leftist National Students Federation and the National Students Organization coming out on top. The 1970s brought with it a rise in student political action as the 1974 Student Union Ordinance was passed. This Ordinance actually encouraged student activity on campus, and several prominent new student organizations came into existence and grew during this time. Meanwhile, the struggle between the Marxist and religious student associations grew, with both sides creating their own respective alliances, though both groups suffered from political infighting and splintering.
Through the late 1970s and into the 1980s the student groups began to clash violently with each other and the government. All its happened due to Zia Ul Haq, who victimised progressive, liberal and democratic students. Doors of the colleges and universities were closed for the students of PSF, but in spite of all hurdles in MAO College Lahore a group of students like Sahar Dabir, Jamshed Butt, Main Ayub And Tanveer Khan continued his struggle. jamshed but was an excellent speaker and an out standing political brain. He was the mastermind of all political games which were playing in those days among the librial students while sahar dubir sunny and tanver khan were his fighting tigers. Jamshed wrote and spoke against Zia throughout his ruling days. While Sunny and Tanver were involved in different criminal cases.
Current issues
There are currently three major issues driving the political activist groups in Pakistan. These issues are a lack of educational opportunities, jobs, and ideological differences.Education
The public education system has three major problems facing it right now. First, there is a shortage of teachers and schools within the country. Approximately 33% of the children in Pakistan are not attending school, and even the ones who are may not have an actual teacher in the class room. Second, the public education system is outdated by over 30 years. The textbooks used in the majority of public schools were written in the 1980s and they tend to lead students to be more susceptible to adaptation into radical forms of Islam. Third is the stark difference between the private and public education systems. The top ten percent of the country send their children to private schools that speak English, instead of Urdu, and most children coming out of the private education system tend to be dismissive of their Urdu-speaking counterparts. This is creating a strong communication and familial rift between the educated population of Pakistan.Several political youth organizations in Pakistan have recognized these problems and are trying to address them. For example, the Pakistan Youth Movement has been trying to get more teachers to come to Pakistan, and the Anjuman-e-Talaba-e-Islam states as part of its mission to help create equality amongst Muslim students.Imamia Students' Organization, Pakistan is a students organization in Pakistan for improve education of Shia students more and more Shia learn and serve the nation.
Jobs
The job market in Pakistan is not promising for students coming out of the education system. The unemployment rate in 2008 was estimated at 24.67%. This was attributed to a large part of the student population getting educated for technical jobs that are not in high demand in the country. Approximately 85% of Pakistanis only make $4 per day, which is not an appealing prospect to college graduates in Pakistan. This disparity of expectations is mobilizing factor behind a significant number of student federations.Ideological differences
The student federations of Pakistan have been known to engage in fights over political, religious, ethnic, nationalist, and sectarian differences. Several students die each year in the physical confrontations that frequently break out between groups during protests.Students Islamic Federations
Mustafavi Students Movement Pakistan
Mustafavi Students Movement is a student organisation of the Minhaj Ul Quran International. It was established on 6 October 1994 under the supervision of Dr Muhammad Tahir Ul Qadri. MSM is busy to protect students from violation and immoral activities and to provide positive avenues to their emotions. This Movement is active in universities, colleges, schools and religious institutes at nationwide level. To eliminate illiteracy and spread the light of knowledge, Discourage the drugs usage, waywardness, obscenity, vulgarity and to eradicate the thriving trends of western culture and draw the attention of students from violent attitude towards educational and national objectives, which is the prior responsibility of Mustafavi Students Movement.Anjuman Talba-e-islam
Anjuman Talaba-e-Islam is the non-political student organization founded on 20 January 1968 with respect to 20th Shawwal 1387 A.H at Sabz Masjid Sarafa Bazaar, Karachi, Pakistan by a group of students. In 1986 student union elections in all cities of Pakistan, ATI came forward as the leading victorious Student Organization by taking more than 80% results.The current President is Moazzam Shazad Sahi from Faislabad, Pakistan.Muslim Students Organization Pakistan
Muslim Students Organization Pakistan is an independent student organization. It aims to propagate Islamic culture in educational institutions of Pakistan and to work for the rights of students.Pakistan Islamic Students Federation
It is unclear when the Pakistan Islamic Students Federation was founded, though its internet presence was established on February 24, 2012. PISF is an Islamic group in Pakistan best known for its protests of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad, where they called for the public hanging of the Danish cartoonists.Imamia Students Organization
Imamia Students Organisation is a Shi'a Muslim students organisation in Pakistan. It was founded by Dr. Mohammad Ali Naqvi on 22 May 1972 at University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. In 2012 it had "around 1200 units in Pakistan," covering all the five provinces of Pakistan, Tribal areas, Azad Jamu, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.Allegations were directed against ISO that they receive funding from Iran. ISO counters those allegations, stating that they only receive moral guidance from Iran.
Muslim Student Federation
Muslim Student Federation or MSF is a conservative Pakistani political group that was started on September 1, 1937, in Calcutta, India by the old All-India Muslim League. The group has a wing in Pakistan that is led by Rana Arshad. and Rana Hassnain leading in Punjab as senior vice president along with coordinator Green Tiger. The student federation has also been known to engage in fights previously with some of the progressive student federations and exhibit an independent mildly conservative nature.In Pakistan MSF-N is aligned to the PML-N, which is a centre-right party and its student wing is very liberal/conservative nowadays.
Progressive and Marxist groups
Democratic Students Federation
Democratic Students Federation was founded in 1949, and being the oldest leftist student federation in Pakistan many other left leaning student political organizations can trace their heritage back to this group. The DSF was banned in 1956 because of its political association with the communist party, which resulted in several other student groups forming from its ashes, like the National Students Federation and the Liberal Students Federation. The DSF was allowed to reorganize in 1980, and grew in popularity because of its connection to the then powerful Soviet Union. This popularity faded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the group restructured itself in 2011 to adapt to more current issues. The groups stated mission is to, "bring back the balance of power to the students in universities which is formerly lost." Nowadays, both the NSF and ISF claim common heritage from the old DSF.JUTT Student Federation
'JUTT Students Federation''' was formed in 2010 as a faction/group that split off from the JUTT Students Federation.Chairman Ch Ijaz jutt And General Secretary Ch Umar Saleem Ghumman.National Students Federation
National Students Federation was formed from the remnants of the Democratic Students Federation when it was banned in 1956. The group is a self-proclaimed revolutionary left and centre-left student federation whose stated goals are to:- Struggle for a class free education system and all rights of the student community
- Struggle for free education for all
- Struggle for improvement in the conditions of all educational institutes
- Promote peace, tolerance and unity amongst students
- To link students with the international movements against capitalist, imperialist oppression.
Liberal Students Federation
Liberal Students Federation was formed in 1973 as a faction/group that split off from the National Students Federation.Pakistan Young Leaders Federation
Pakistan Young Leaders Federation was formed in 2014. Leader of PYLF is Hassan Javaid KhanInsaf Students Federation
Peoples Students Federation
Peoples Students Federation is a students-led organisation attempts to mobilize the youth for Peoples Party candidates for the Youth Parliament. It also has the separate Trotskyist-Marxist wing, "The Struggle", which is internationally affiliated with International Marxist Tendency ; the student wing, the Peoples Students, a student-outreach organization with the goal of training and engaging the new generation for the betterment of country through education and Pakistan Peoples Party members.All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organization
The All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organization آل پاکستان متحدہ اسٹوڈنٹس آرگنائزیشن is notable for being the student organization that created Pakistan's 4th Notional Political Party, the Mohajir Quami Movement, now called the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.APMSO was founded by Altaf Hussain along with other students include Azeem Ahmed Tariq, Dr. Imran Farooq and others on Sunday, June 11, 1978 at Karachi University. Hussain also served as a first Chairman of the organization while Azeem Ahmed Tariq served as the first General Secretary of the organization.
While the APMSO platform has some liberal elements to it, at its core it is the ethnic political party of the Muhajir, an Urdu speaking people who immigrated from India in 1947. It was later renamed the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organization and is still known by this name. It is arguably the most active and well-organised student union in Sindh public sector universities and organises many activities for general students.