An Eyewitness Account of the LUMS Protest
We decided to share an eyewitness account of the LUMS protest of Nov 7th, 2007. The account is written by an alumni, read on ...
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Dear all,
I participated in the second day of protests at LUMS today. Have never felt so proud of having studied there. And for the first time since hearing Musharraf's speech on the 3rd, felt inspired instead of being disheartened and frustrated.
The atmosphere today was more cautious, but still tremendously charged -- especially for a private university known for its depoliticized elite youth. The coordination was great, most students were in black or wearing black armbands, some had tapes and 'dupattas' on their mouth, and the speeches were fantastic -- talking about building coalitions with other public universities while being aware of the class and cultural gaps, and how LUMS should have protested even if our own professors were not arrested. The most important thing was that there was continuous debate even as people walked. Not everyone was sure what difference this would make, not everyone was sure what kind of democracy they want and what would happen without Mushrraf, and students were also constantly joking about the protest itself and at the country's situation which provided much amusement to me as I had gone alone. But everyone walked together nonetheless, convinced that getting rid of the entire Supreme Court in this blatantly high-handed manner, imposing the PCO, and the massive crackdown against the media and civil society is not acceptable.
It's two rounds inside the campus, but they do make such a difference at an individual and collective level. This is going to be hard to sustain though in the face of such intense repression. Amongst others, a key issue is: the LUMS administration has been apparently told that the university can be closed and a General imposed as VC if they don't stop. If they can throw away the entire Supreme Court, they can surely close down a university. According to latest news, FAST (a prominent computer science institute) has already been sealed due to protests, and Quaid-e-Azam University protesters in Islamabad have also been shelled. This on top of 5000+ arrests around the country already.
And even at LUMS today, the police contingent outside was strong and seeing the huge Prisoners Van outside was quite scary. Part of me did feel, wow this is outside LUMS? And the LUMS guards were not letting anyone in without a LUMS ID card. I was not prepared to be not allowed in, and lied saying I have a meeting with the Vice Chancellor Zahoor. The guard didn't buy it. I lied again saying I'm late for the meeting, please let me in. And was luckily allowed in. I saw two other alumni and two older people (parents perhaps) being turned away.
Because of the national and international media coverage of Monday's protests, the police had warned that they can storm inside and arrest, so students were asked to assemble today in the Sports complex (the administration has been generally supportive, they didn't ban rallies outright). And so students met indoors, they chanted there, and made speeches, and right when the mike was going bad, people were getting bored and leaving, this one dude started singing Habib Jalib's critical/satirical poetry and people started clapping along. That was just superb. Then the students decided to still still take out a rally. The Vice Chancellor (Zahoor) was panicked and made sure that like last time, students don't come to the front gate (both times inside only). He was frantically running around turning students way. And they did turn around and walked the other way towards the PDC. The most popular chant -- which has always been my favorite -- was:
Outside PDC, like in the Students Complex, students did speeches -- anyone who wanted to talk could mostly come up and say something, though some leaders had emerged and were visible. Actually some of the prominent students (I know one of them) were told by faculty to keep a low profile today because their names have been obtained and they could be arrested as well. They were scared, but were still showing tremendous strength and courage.
But everyone was a leader in her/his own way. They were asking themselves: what can I do to help? Let's not forget that most of these kids are 18-20, they are kids primarily consumed with their upcoming exams, and very scared. One guy said: it's good that Pakistani TV channels are banned so parents at home cannot really know what we all are up to in LUMS. Then this other student came up to a faculty member (Furrukh) whom I was talking to and said:
While walking as part of the protest, I saw five of our service staff people who work in the dining center and in the hostels, they were looking on and smiling at the crowd. I went up to them to ask what they thought. One guy said very strongly: "Yeh to sahih hai, lekin parliament kay agay ja kar aihtijaaj kar na chahiyeh. Us say faraq paray ga." (This is all good. But students and everyone must go in front of the Parliament to protest, that will make a difference).
I said: "Haan woh zaroori hai, lekin wahan khatra bhi hai. Logon ko arrest kar rahay hain" (Yes that's necessary, but it's also dangeorus as so many have gotten arrested).
And he said: "Danday ki hukoomat hai, yehi karay gi. Lekin sarkoon par eihtijaaj karna chaihyeh, us hi say kuch banega". (This is a government of the stick/sword, what else will it do? But street protests are key).
Then this other guy next to him interjected equally strongly:
"Nahin, eihtijaaj pur aman hi hona chahiyeh. Students bilkul theek kar rahay hain. Phir yeh baat internet kay zaryay puri duniya mein pauhnchay gi, is say bhi faraq parta hai." (No what the students are doing is right. They should do a non-violent protest inside LUMS. Through internet, the footage will go to the whole world and it would make a lot of difference).
Such conversations were happening everywhere...
Anyway, felt like sharing some thoughts. Let's see how things develop, but let's keep spreading the word, any analysis we get, and generally keep up the momentum.
******************************************************************************************
Dear all,
I participated in the second day of protests at LUMS today. Have never felt so proud of having studied there. And for the first time since hearing Musharraf's speech on the 3rd, felt inspired instead of being disheartened and frustrated.
The atmosphere today was more cautious, but still tremendously charged -- especially for a private university known for its depoliticized elite youth. The coordination was great, most students were in black or wearing black armbands, some had tapes and 'dupattas' on their mouth, and the speeches were fantastic -- talking about building coalitions with other public universities while being aware of the class and cultural gaps, and how LUMS should have protested even if our own professors were not arrested. The most important thing was that there was continuous debate even as people walked. Not everyone was sure what difference this would make, not everyone was sure what kind of democracy they want and what would happen without Mushrraf, and students were also constantly joking about the protest itself and at the country's situation which provided much amusement to me as I had gone alone. But everyone walked together nonetheless, convinced that getting rid of the entire Supreme Court in this blatantly high-handed manner, imposing the PCO, and the massive crackdown against the media and civil society is not acceptable.
It's two rounds inside the campus, but they do make such a difference at an individual and collective level. This is going to be hard to sustain though in the face of such intense repression. Amongst others, a key issue is: the LUMS administration has been apparently told that the university can be closed and a General imposed as VC if they don't stop. If they can throw away the entire Supreme Court, they can surely close down a university. According to latest news, FAST (a prominent computer science institute) has already been sealed due to protests, and Quaid-e-Azam University protesters in Islamabad have also been shelled. This on top of 5000+ arrests around the country already.
And even at LUMS today, the police contingent outside was strong and seeing the huge Prisoners Van outside was quite scary. Part of me did feel, wow this is outside LUMS? And the LUMS guards were not letting anyone in without a LUMS ID card. I was not prepared to be not allowed in, and lied saying I have a meeting with the Vice Chancellor Zahoor. The guard didn't buy it. I lied again saying I'm late for the meeting, please let me in. And was luckily allowed in. I saw two other alumni and two older people (parents perhaps) being turned away.
Because of the national and international media coverage of Monday's protests, the police had warned that they can storm inside and arrest, so students were asked to assemble today in the Sports complex (the administration has been generally supportive, they didn't ban rallies outright). And so students met indoors, they chanted there, and made speeches, and right when the mike was going bad, people were getting bored and leaving, this one dude started singing Habib Jalib's critical/satirical poetry and people started clapping along. That was just superb. Then the students decided to still still take out a rally. The Vice Chancellor (Zahoor) was panicked and made sure that like last time, students don't come to the front gate (both times inside only). He was frantically running around turning students way. And they did turn around and walked the other way towards the PDC. The most popular chant -- which has always been my favorite -- was:
"Girti hui Deewar Ko, Eik Dhakka Aur do!"People at the back like myself couldn't properly hear what was being said in front, but happily responded:
(Give another push to an already falling wall).
"Nahin Chalay Gi, Nahin Chalay gi"to what was being said in the front.
(Will not be accepted, Will not be accepted)
Outside PDC, like in the Students Complex, students did speeches -- anyone who wanted to talk could mostly come up and say something, though some leaders had emerged and were visible. Actually some of the prominent students (I know one of them) were told by faculty to keep a low profile today because their names have been obtained and they could be arrested as well. They were scared, but were still showing tremendous strength and courage.
But everyone was a leader in her/his own way. They were asking themselves: what can I do to help? Let's not forget that most of these kids are 18-20, they are kids primarily consumed with their upcoming exams, and very scared. One guy said: it's good that Pakistani TV channels are banned so parents at home cannot really know what we all are up to in LUMS. Then this other student came up to a faculty member (Furrukh) whom I was talking to and said:
"Sir, I have excellent footage of the whole protest, but if I put it up on YouTube with my name, I have heard that the intelligence will take me away. What do I do?"He said this such an innocent and urgent sense of concern and confusion, that my heart just melted. Furrukh said coordinate with other students who took videos and come up with a joint strategy. I suggested that students might black out very clearly visible faces, and upload the video under a name such as XYZ. And he nodded, repeated XYZ after me as if that was significant, and in a way that made it clear that he hadn't thought of a false name. I also said make sure you put good keywords in the title, like emergency, protests, LUMS. And again he just repeated after me -- he still seemed so overwhelmed with all that he had seen. I then told him that I am an alumni and many people in my batch are damn proud of you all, and eagerly waiting for more videos.
While walking as part of the protest, I saw five of our service staff people who work in the dining center and in the hostels, they were looking on and smiling at the crowd. I went up to them to ask what they thought. One guy said very strongly: "Yeh to sahih hai, lekin parliament kay agay ja kar aihtijaaj kar na chahiyeh. Us say faraq paray ga." (This is all good. But students and everyone must go in front of the Parliament to protest, that will make a difference).
I said: "Haan woh zaroori hai, lekin wahan khatra bhi hai. Logon ko arrest kar rahay hain" (Yes that's necessary, but it's also dangeorus as so many have gotten arrested).
And he said: "Danday ki hukoomat hai, yehi karay gi. Lekin sarkoon par eihtijaaj karna chaihyeh, us hi say kuch banega". (This is a government of the stick/sword, what else will it do? But street protests are key).
Then this other guy next to him interjected equally strongly:
"Nahin, eihtijaaj pur aman hi hona chahiyeh. Students bilkul theek kar rahay hain. Phir yeh baat internet kay zaryay puri duniya mein pauhnchay gi, is say bhi faraq parta hai." (No what the students are doing is right. They should do a non-violent protest inside LUMS. Through internet, the footage will go to the whole world and it would make a lot of difference).
Such conversations were happening everywhere...
Anyway, felt like sharing some thoughts. Let's see how things develop, but let's keep spreading the word, any analysis we get, and generally keep up the momentum.
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