DLP Report
PESHAWAR
The provincial president of Awami National Party (ANP) Mian Iftikhar Hussain has reiterated a strong demand for the immediate restoration of student unions in educational institutions, declaring them essential for addressing the country’s deepening leadership crisis. He said that without active student unions, Pakistan has lost the primary nursery where future leaders once emerged.
Addressing a welcome ceremony organized by the Pakhtun Students Federation at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Peshawar for newly enrolled students, Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that the ban on student unions is the root cause of the severe leadership vacuum the country faces today. He noted that the current leadership of major political parties is itself a product of a time when student politics was allowed to flourish.
He said that those who imposed the ban are responsible for damaging the country’s democratic future. Despite the fact that both national and provincial assemblies have passed resolutions in favor of restoring student unions, the ban continues, raising the question of who is obstructing their revival.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain added that many administrative challenges in educational institutions could be resolved by reinstating student unions. However, instead of empowering students, politics has been criminalized on campuses, and students are compelled to sign declarations pledging not to participate in political activities. “It is unfortunate that terrorism and gun culture were never banned, but student politics was,” he remarked.
Criticizing the commercialization of public sectors, he said that educational institutions’ lands were being sold while hospitals have become profit-making businesses under the health card system, making healthcare increasingly inaccessible for ordinary citizens.
He said the closure of trade and routes has severely impacted livelihoods. “The rulers call India an enemy, yet trade with India has not stopped for a single day—so why are routes with Afghanistan shut down?” he asked, saying that such decisions reflect the rulers’ interests rather than those of the people.
