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The Ungentle Underbelly

The purpose of this essay is to make a delicate incision through your thick skull and offer you a sip of mine. The human skull does not have sensory neurons, so this should not hurt in the least. Just be sure to have your scalp peeled off. The author conveniently holds no responsibility thereof.

You, trippy, tipsy darling with your subtle puffed up head corroded by too many fascinations, walk across the pavement, half lost in the dark side of your mind and dreaming of little bombs whizzing off as the rain lashes on mercilessly. Your umbrella harkens to the angst of mother earth raging in all her merciless furies. It leaves you and scurries off into its own distant dreams, receding from SSE – that ageing giant whose somber, pitiless stare scans the deep, eternal, endless pit. You wonder what hope it seeks, whom it seeks, and if you are among the ones sought after.

In the deep night, its stare persists, lingering on your skeletal frame as its gaze pierces right through you as if it can see all of your weaknesses. You, trudging on drowsily at this delayed hour of the night, are only holding up because of the caffeine. Yet, now as even then – then, when the machine was unborn, nature humbles the man at the edge – that lone warrior wages battle against the night. Calamitous against the night, nature humbles you with its own spells of drowsiness, with its own incurable spells of nauseating sicknesses. Across the void, it spills your guts, which now float in the abyss of space-time. Spilled, slashed, bloodied, and gashed to the truth of their bleak existence, remnants of your being roam past your containment, their freedom and their battles lost in a mere night.

At first, a gentle shudder. Then, a mighty roar from the heavens as a lightning bolt strikes and a glass breaks. Nature strikes again.

The giant SSE yelps in pain as a glass window breaks and falls off. In the deep pit of the night, startled science kids come running out of the building, looking around hurriedly to explain this phenomenon. The giant yelps and moans while they beg for the cause. The giant rages fiercely in the night – rages battle against this nature that turns to humble it.

You, lone warrior now spilled, bloodied, and lying half dead in the lawn, don’t bother about the goddamn glass. For you, it is the unknowable, and you have learnt to be at peace with your unknowability. Alas, you belong to the underbelly. You are to SSE as Will Graham to Hannibal and as Desdemona to Othello: doomed to love-crime. You swoon in its desire even as it torments you to the utmost, to the core, and to that which emerges as your sole in the myriads of all your selves. Deep within, you want as Othello wants, to “put out the light, and then put out the light.”

As the underbelly, now, you watch the mammoth building howling in its mad pain. The wind gushes through its corridors, recreating a strange phantasmagoria: howling banshees beating drums and lining the corridors. Bats rise from the trees as tiny aero battalions, their wheezing sounds numbing the life out of the air. With this strange custom of bats and banshees forging a new battleground, you struggle to choose your alliance — the giant howling in pain or this strange concoction of your mind.

Bloodied, broken, and with your wet clothes clinging to your bare skeletal body, you rise like a phoenix out of the ashes and push your way through even as you are terrified for your laptop in your bag. This is your sole battle now – to make it to the building. You wage this mighty war against nature with your bare skeletal body drenched in rain and your own blood. You push yourself through this ordeal as you push yourself to meet every deadline, as you wake your weakened body every morning for those godforsaken 8:00 AM classes, and as you take a quiz while a pandemic gently arrives.

Today, as on many other days, you return to this strange home to traverse the edges of its underbelly. You feel the haunting cold of the labs that keep the experiments running while you look for your fleeting soul in strange murky places – in other departments, on meme pages, and even in thick textbooks for graduate students.

Of all the unimaginable sounds, you hear that of a child arguing with his father – a well-reputed professor in this building. You suddenly feel more at ease; you ache for the shrill sound of a stubborn child weeping in this abyss, where only the machine hums. Yet another baby suddenly pierces the silence; the void is ruptured, the machine cannot be heard, and the cold is replaced with a sudden, startling warmth. The howling wind turns into a zestful lullaby.

The lullaby of revolution is sung. Even as the wind howls like a moaning banshee and the bats fill in with their wheezing, new drums are beaten. One by one, battalions of little babies pour in from the elevators, transforming into a giant ocean. An army rages in the lobby — to redeem the irredeemable, to reverse the irreversible, to do the undoable, to restore the disorder, and to stare back at the pitiless stare with the absurdum of infanthood. Your brain screams at you: “pick a side!” You, a mere spectator, have now become a historian of this strange occurrence that records itself as viscerally as if it were to become a live performance in your mind for the rest of time.

The helpless child crying for his mother emerges as the new hero — emerges as the only response that can pierce through the impregnable walls of SSE. Little babies invade its departments. One by one, they will take its labs down, lay siege to the offices, cut off their funding, build their own cradles, fill the refrigerators with milk, sing lullabies at the top of their lungs, and have their own melodies bemoan through the giant building that has now been  overtaken.

The experiments are all ruined now, and the sheer madness of this dull delight – this delirium of the mad – has ended.

The underbelly roars in delight.

You sip your coffee in the ghastly hollows of your undelight. The brooding hour of the dark returns. It torments you, piercing you nauseatingly. Your insides swoon in the vomit that fills you in this loss. Sick to the core, your soul slips out into the night as you go back to studying quantum decoherence.

Author’s Note:

I would like to offer my sincerest gratitude to my editor, Irfan Javed.

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#LUMSKHOLO: The Campus Reopening Protest

On Monday, 25th January, around sixty students took to the streets outside LUMS to protest the HEC directives communicated by LUMS with regards to campus re-opening. While students claim that LUMS failed to communicate effectively, the admin claimed to have reported and implemented HEC directives within hours of having received them. Certain students went on to quote the admin about earlier comments made asserting the university as a private institution that needs not follow HEC directives. At the same time, the admin asserts that the second wave is hitting hard, and stresses the need to be careful. More so, even when the decision to open campus for all students was made, it came with the clause, “subject to government directives.”

The protest which took place outside the infamous store referred to as Kashi’s (actually: Smoke City) attracted some media coverage as well. Students came with placards that read: “In a toxic relationship with LUMS,” “give students their rights,” “we deserve better,” “lums kholo, lums kholo,” “we deserve campus access,” “we don’t pay so much for online classes.” The last of these seems to be a pressing concern as students say that this ‘u-turn’ no longer justifies the fee-hikes, particularly the hostel fee whose increase was premised on additional costs bearing out as a result of housing and transport arrangements being made at Askari-11.

The protest was successful in bringing two members of the administration to the protest site to hear student demands. The student council served as an intermediary between the two parties, communicating with both. Initially, the admin requested that a couple of students from the sit-in be permitted on campus so that demands could be heard. Upon student refusal, the Dean of OSA and the Provost joined the sit-in outside the main gate. While the Dean of OSA refused to engage with the students, the Provost, Dr. Tariq Jadoon, listened to the students’ grievances. The protestors report that about 43% of the student body will be allowed to access campus after the negotiations following the protest. However, on the very same day, many of SSE in-person classes were unfortunately converted to online classes. While students were left frustrated by this policy, the admin claims that the motive behind doing so was in order to ensure that priority/need-based admission of students on campus is made possible.

Another post in circulation around the LUMS Discussion Forum and the Democratic LUMS Discussion Forum claims that the government is allowing 50% of the student body to return to campus. This seems to have delayed the email promised to arrive on 27th January. While it is past midnight and students have not yet received an email with regards to accommodation, many students worry about cancellation charges as the forty-eight refundable window for plane tickets withers away. For many seniors, being allowed back on campus for Spring 2021 seemed to be the only glimmer of hope in an otherwise anxious time. As the night deepens, seniors sit behind screens, refreshing their inboxes, waiting. Waiting for accommodation, waiting for job acceptances, waiting for graduate programs. Waiting and wondering about what life after LUMS will be like, but wait, didn’t LUMS already end?

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Campus Reopening: A U-Turn?

Pakistani politicans are not the only ones who take sudden U-turns, thereby decimating the public’s hopes and aspirations. The LUMS administration also meanders down these unforeseen curves, bends and U-turns, as it has become evident through the campus reopening debacle of January 2021. As the student body booked their tickets for Lahore, packed their belongings, and planned for an on-campus academic semester, their hopes were dashed by the administration’s latest email that trickled into their inboxes like some murky, ominous potion.

In the aforementioned email, the student body was regretfully informed that the admin would not be able to accommodate the majority back onto the campus, as per the new government directives which entailed that “in no case shall the total number of students permitted to come to campus exceed 30 per cent of the total enrollment.“ This dealt a significant blow to the student body who had only recently begun to restore their faith in the administration’s intentions and motives. It was also established that those who were previously notified about their imminent return back onto campus would unfortunately have to be turned away. This instigated massive fury, bewilderment and protest from the students who felt like they had been promised mere kernels of false hope by the administration. This email, sent on January 23rd 2021, was in direct contradiction with the cheerful, celebratory email sent on January 8th 2021. The previous emailed brimmed with promises of the campus reopening, ” If allowed, we intend to invite all hostel residents who have been assigned housing to return back to campus by February 1st.  Similarly, all day scholars from Lahore who are able to come back to campus will be welcomed once we have the permission from the government”.

With the university suddenly deciding to take back their decision of calling back additional people on campus, there came financial burdens that some students had to bear. Ones who had booked their tickets in advance were forced to cancel their flights, the costs of which are mostly non-refundable. According to one student who attended the Town Hall, the Vice Chancellor Arshad Ahmed stated that they would compensate students who have faced such costs. He is reported to have said that the university will reimburse the expenses accrued as a result of these travel tickets.

In addition to this, some students had already paid the hostel charges included in their fee as well. Given that the student body was notified so late that the university had no plans to open accommodation to everyone, the question was raised as to how students who had already paid their fees were going to be compensated. Those who had already paid were told to email Residence and inform them if they wish to have their money refunded or adjusted in future fee vouchers, and those who had not were told that their accommodation was to be cancelled and new vouchers are to be uploaded February 2nd.

Speaking of expenses, it is also worth nothing how per credit hour fees were increased without prior notice, as were the hostel charges. The question of how such rises are justified has puzzled students, given the fact that learning is still taking place online, and no additional facilities have been granted to hostelites which would help them understand why the hostel charges have increased. Some students, before the university decided to follow government directives, withdrew accommodation after seeing the high amount which was being charged.

The expenses may even be said to be two fold, firstly, the direct loss of money, and secondly, the emotional cost from steadily losing hope of returning to campus and living a normal university life. The student body expresses sentiments of hurt and confusion amongst deceit. They claim that the admin has not been straightforward with their motives, and has also refused to reconcile matters in a civil manner. The graduating batch of 2021 is especially disheartened by the sudden U-turn, as they consider the possibility of all their senior year plan disintegrating into mere ash.

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Aftermath of Charlie Hebdo cartoons

September 2020 saw the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and subsequently, an attack was carried out by Islamic extremists outside the former headquarters of the magazine. Charlie Hebdo has a long tradition of using caricatures as a way of countering the rhetoric of political and religious authorities. This assault comes five years after an attack on the same magazine for the same reasons. Following these events was a beheading of a middle school teacher who had shown these cartoons to his students, in a class on ‘freedom of expression’.

Muslim countries in the Middle East and South Asia, along with Turkey, have witnessed protests against France and a ban on French products. This ban would extend to French multinational stores as well, including the Carrefour supermarket chain, Total and its petrol products, and fashion and cosmetic products from the brand L’Oreal, among others. The question arises, who is the ban for? It is clear that a strong European economy such as that of France will most likely not suffer from a boycott by countries in the Global South. The consequences of this ban may not be felt by the French economy; instead, only serve to fulfill the wants of far-right groups in Pakistan and restrict consumer choice.

This ban on French products is hypocritical if the Uighur Muslim crisis is taken into account. While PM Imran Khan of Pakistan has strongly condemned the cartoons and admonished President Macron for “attacking Islam”, Khan has not denounced the concentration camps in China for Uighur Muslims. This act highlights the politics that underlie the condemnation of France, while China remains unquestioned and unaccountable: whereas France is far removed from Pakistan in terms of political geography, China is an immediate neighbor with whom Pakistan wishes to keep good relations. The expected boost to Pakistan’s economy from the ongoing project of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is too profitable an opportunity to squander in favour of opposing human rights violations by the very country upon whom the success of this venture depends.

Moreover, a political battle of wills has ensued as tensions rise in both nations following the controversy. France’s idea to have ID numbers for children led to Pakistan Minister for Human Rights, Shireen Mazari, likening it to Hitler’s ideology of anti-Semitism, only this time it was so-called Islamophobia. Mazari was forced to withdraw her statement after France clarified their position, saying this identification form would not apply to only Muslim children, but to all children in France. This identification is related to a recent move on part of the French government to make sure that all French children are attending schools, and to prevent “radicalization at home”.

By far the most concerning thing to happen on local ground is the mass protest carried out by TLP, which called for completely severing ties with France and banning French products; and in doing so fueled the ideology of the far-right Islamist political party. The fact that the government allowed these protests to take place, that too in the midst of a worsening pandemic, is highly unsettling. Violence ensued at the protest and riot police had to resort to using tear gas and rubber bullets. Additionally, it exposed many to the threat of COVID-19, and the leader of TLP also succumbed to the virus on November 19th.

What is especially worrying is the fact that such far-right politico-religious parties are allowed to exist in the first place and that their activities are not sanctioned by the government of Pakistan. Parties such as the TLP, JUI, and JI, in all their years of existence, have only managed to polarize the citizens of Pakistan even further, and have constantly fought against rights for women and minorities from a supposedly “religious” stance. It is clear that they are using religion as a means to an end: the end being power over a heteronormative patriarchal society based on a version of religion that constantly oppresses women and minorities in order to silence dissent.

These instances show Pakistan’s hypocritical and uninformed stance on French legislation related to Muslims. However, France has not been doing itself any favors in the present moment, or in the past, when it has carried out controversial bans on hijab, niqab and burkinis. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has asserted that this ban violates women’s freedom of religion and it could have the effect of marginalizing them by obstructing their access to the public sphere. The French Interior Minister has also attacked stores selling halal meats, claiming that this serves “separatism” in the community.

Clearly, France needs to take a more nuanced position when dealing with the threat of extreme Islamism in their secular nation: “…what is concerning is the lack of nuance from the government that results once again in Muslims feeling as if they are guilty until proven innocent,” says Sarah Alouane, a French legal scholar and expert in religious freedom (The Washington Post). On local ground, it must be demanded that the government of Pakistan also take a stand, not only against international threats, but against native threats posed by far-right political groups which misuse religion as a tactic to gain power and cause civil unrest.

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On The Rise: Spiralling Rape Cases

TW: Rape

 

Rape.

An ever-growing sadistically, heinous crime, happening to people all around the world regardless of age, gender, and species. In Pakistan alone, over ten thousand cases were reported from January 2014 to June 2017. In 2019, 3881 cases were reported in the province of Punjab, which was a five hundred increase from the year before. Considering a country such as Pakistan, where topics of sex education are termed taboo, or where a woman is severely ostracized by society for coming out with such a claim, one can only imagine how many more cases cease to see the light of day.

During the early hours of September 11, 2020, a woman with her two children present, was brutally gangraped on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway after being dragged out of her car. The case garnered national attention, and a variety of reactions were observed; some sympathized with the victim, while some blamed her. Matters became worse when the Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), Umar Sheikh, made deplorable comments about the incident. According to him, the victim should have taken an alternative route, checked the fuel in her car and should not have traveled without her husband’s permission. Protests erupted soon after, with thousands of people taking to the streets, demanding justice, and the removal of the CCPO. Facing severe backlash, Sheikh later offered a lackluster apology and was not removed from his post.

The case remains unsolved, with the police yet again failing to capture the victims. It seems as if lately, such incidents are on the rise, or are being reported more often. Prayer leader Jamshed Iqbal attempted to rape a 9-year-old girl while she had gone to take Quran lessons from him in Jhelum. In Lahore, a woman was lured to a certain place with the promise of a job, instead, two men forcefully took her to a hotel where they then gang-raped her. A woman was raped at gunpoint by five men in front of her husband while the couple was returning to their home in Ferozewala, Sheikhupura district. Another woman, waiting on the roadside for transport as her bus had broken down, was offered a ride and was later intoxicated and gang raped by six men. A 16-year-old girl in Sargodha had been repeatedly raped by her landlord for a period of six months and a 17-year-old girl was raped by her stepfather in Gujranwala.

While scavenging through these cases, one of the things that greatly perturbed me was how in almost all of them, none of the perpetrators were arrested or brought into custody. This indicates how little is done to seriously look resolve these cases. Prominent government figures take ‘extreme notice’ of these incidents, and that about sums up all they really do; pertinent in the fact that most of these cases are left open without any justice being served. Nothing is really done, and Pakistan has become, or perhaps always has been, an extremely unsafe place for women. Our Prime Minister has suggested the castration and hanging of rapists once the accused have been proven guilty. Whether this will be implemented or not, and if it will prove to be effective or not is something only time will tell. This might indeed have adverse consequences, as some are of the opinion that the rapists will likely not leave their victims alive in order to prevent being convicted. The absence of the victim’s testimony will result in the preparator’s going free. Perhaps the best approach is to educate people, especially boys, on consent.

With these problems in mind, one must take into consideration how much power Islamic figures have within our country. It is worth mentioning how these prominent religious figures, be them Maulvis, Mullahs or anyone of the sort, have a considerable amount of influence on much of our population. I strongly believe that if they take the initiative of educating the public on violence against women, we will observe some positive change in society. Instances such as the likes of Maulana Tariq Jameel blaming co-education as a source of promoting obscenity while addressing the motorway incident might not have been ill-intentioned, but the focus should have been on the crime that was committed and what can be done to prevent such an atrocity from repeating itself. Placing blame on an already barely existing, co-education system without proof of any correlation deemed these comments to be off handed and undesirable, sparking controversy amongst the public.

A movement of change is desperately needed. Protests do occur, with people taking to the streets and posting about such cases on their social media accounts to create awareness. The Me-Too movement is gaining some momentum in Pakistan, and the Aurat March takes place every year as well. However, the problem has much deeper roots. The mentality of much of our people, which automatically inclines them towards blaming the victim needs to change. People thinking it is perfectly acceptable to engage in activities with others without their explicit consent needs to change. One gender being seen as weaker, submissive and inferior to the other needs to change. Rapists thinking that their hormones are to blame, and that sexually objectifying women is natural needs to change.

Whether it is pornography or entertainment involving the degradation of women, it needs to be very carefully assessed. Our precious country has become a place where women constantly feel unsafe, even within the vicinity of their own homes. Such a nation, where a significant proportion of its population have live in fear or discomfort, is no nation to be proud of, nor one which should be acceptable to its people.

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How the Catastrophic Storms in Karachi are Making Life Unliveable?

2020 has been a tough year for Pakistan so far. The unexpected wave of Coronavirus caused numerous casualties and brought life to a complete halt. Now when people had only started to recover and return to normal life, a series of continuous rainfall befell the country – causing havoc in Sindh especially. While the rest of Pakistan enjoyed the drop in high temperatures, the past two weeks were devastating for Karachi: the city of lights had turned into an abyss of darkness and despair amid heavy downpours.

Heart-wrenching images have been circulating on the internet that provide a glimpse into life in Karachi: an old man carrying his sewing machine (the only source of his income), struggling shop owners desperately looking for intact items so they could salvage some of their life’s work, and kittens drowning in rainwater. Roads and underpasses are filled with water to the brim. The vehicles of those who saved for ages to buy a car are now submerged and forever lost, and the destruction of houses has left people without any place to seek shelter.

The residents have been deprived of electricity for days. Many civilians have not only lost their homes and livelihood but their loved ones too. The rainwater has mixed with sewage water which is a great threat to the health of many. In areas like Malir, the water is increasing to a dangerous level every day, leaving the residents in a state of helplessness and desolation. The desert areas of Tharparkar have received plenty of rainfall which has destroyed the residents’ mud-houses as well as their crops, forcing them to migrate to unknown areas with their animals and without any assistance from the government.

In these difficult times the people have come out to help one another: a few NGO’s namely Al-Khidmat foundation, Chippa Welfare Association and Edhi Foundation have been working to rescue the citizens.

While many of the residents are struggling to save the lives of their family members and desperate for a place to seek shelter, people living in the posh areas actually seem to be enjoying the multicolored hues of the skies and a change in the weather. While many have nothing to eat, the other side of Karachi has been ordering food online from eateries whose workers put their lives in danger by commuting through the rainwater to earn something for themselves in these desperate times.

This highlights the disparity between the classes and the plight of the underprivileged- a scene from the movie ‘Parasite’ come to life, a stark and sobering contrast between the haves and have nots.

The monsoon rains this time have broken an 89-year-old record with an increase of 306 MM as compared to the monthly average for August. With more rainfall expected in the coming weeks, the city is likely to be hit by more flash floods which will further disrupt the lives of the people.

The city is now in a dilapidated condition and the question which arises here is that who is to be held responsible for all this destruction – the Government which has once again failed the citizens of Karachi or the management authorities who have failed to repair Karachi’s infrastructure and unclog the city drains in preparation for the monsoon?

The truth is, no one is willing to take responsibility for Karachi’s welfare. In the face of such calamity, all anyone is able to do is watch Karachi sink deeper and deeper still.

 

 

 

 

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Is This My Pakistan?

What comes to your mind when you think of the country, Pakistan? Do you think it is a place that our founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, would be proud of? Well, I am here to give you my two cents on what I personally see, and what do I feel when I see it.

I see a place where a child’s worth and the amount of celebration that should be done is determined by your gender at birth. A place where, if it is revealed to be a girl, you will hear hushed whispers saying, “oh no… better luck next time.” Hearing this always released a bitter laugh out of me, because these same people otherwise love quoting the religion of Islam on everything, but when it comes to the blessing of a baby girl, their narrative changes.

Speaking of which, people who are religious (read: mullahs) seem to hold some sort of autonomy over others. The mullahs and Quran teachers, even the ones who are known who molest and sexually abuse kids, are still at their posts, and the Pakistani masses do not seem to protest about this as much. On the contrary, a Pakistani celebrity was facing severe backlash for shooting a twirling scene (without music) at a mosque, for which she also apologized for. Another woman was sent actual rape threats, and abusive voice messages, all over a picture in which she had tied the flag of Pakistan onto her dog’s collar because apparently dogs are shaytaan ki nasal. I am going to keep this part brief, but I see a place where women ‘crossing boundaries’ irks the common folk more than destroying and potentially permanently scarring children’s mental health.

I see a place where the white part of our beloved flag, which is a representation of religious minorities, is largely ignored. Ahamdis live in constant fear of being killed. They have been shot dead in courts, while closing their shops, at their prayer meetings and inside their mosques. It seems as if a difference in faith from the majority of this pious population is threatening. A mere accusation of blasphemy can ruin your life, whether it gets proved or not. I wonder, what gives them the right to murder innocent human beings, and ostracize them from society?

I see a place where, even during a pandemic, your religion determined whether you would survive or not. An NGO in Karachi denied ration cards to Hindus and Christians, because apparently ‘only Muslims are entitled to them’. In other places, people had to convert to Islam to receive aid, changing their faith to survive. It is alarming that creations of God are going against their own kind, in the name of God.

You might be thinking what a pessimistic approach this is to be writing about our beloved country, but I am merely stating the realities of our motherland. Of course, there are positive things as well, but in recent times where people have more access to be aware of things happening nationwide, my image of this nation has become anything but positive. It is also important to note that being critical is not the same as being ungrateful, another thing which Pakistanis need to keep in mind. I sincerely hope that one day, this country becomes a safe space for women, children, and minorities.

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Report: LUMS Open House

An open house was scheduled for today, which was moderated by the Student Council General Secretary Abdullah Haroon, which lasted for almost 3 hours and 30 minutes. This lengthy and heated meeting consisted of many interesting discussions from both the administration and student body’s side. The open house started with Dr. Ali Khan introducing the agenda and further discussing how the students’ reactions have been somewhat disrespectful overall. He pointed out and showed his distaste at how the speculation of faculty’s pictures from the campus were being circulated and being tagged as hypocrites. He then went on to talk about how the implementation of SOPs is not completely doable and will put everyone at risk eventually while also stating how the administration prioritizes the needs of students who have unconducive environments and connectivity issues. Later on, the chat was disabled due to the overwhelming amount of comments by students in the chatbox.

Then, Dr. Samia took charge and explained to the attendees how a low rate of cases being reported is not a reflection of low infection rate, since maybe the numbers released by the government might not be accurate. She also mentioned how the low death rate in Pakistan was primarily caused by our demographic, which has a very low percentage of the elderly population that is the most at risk. She then went on to compare the situation in Pakistan with various other countries and then concluded that countries who did claim to be coronavirus free have started seeing a resurgence of the virus, especially amongst their youth.

While all this discussion took place, the Dean of SAHSOL, Jeff Redding got involved in the discussion over chat and replied to students’ comments. Mr. Redding targeted the feminists at LUMS for being involved in ‘unethical’ activities and attacked the entire ideology of feminism altogether. He went on to call students ‘hyperbolic’ and kept on making triggering statements that angered the students.

Ammar Shahid, the student representative in this meeting, condensed the demands and concerns of students in a very appropriate manner; he tried to help the administration see the students’ perspective during these uncertain times and that too amidst dubious policies being put forth by LUMS. The international criteria for schools and universities reopening were discussed and put forward by the students; however, Dr. Samia was of the opinion these criteria are not being met in Pakistan. She went as far as to challenge the students to mention a hospital, except Agha Khan, that would fulfill the given criterion. She mentioned that the responsibility of having to take care of a sick student would fall entirely on LUMS and that the university is not ready for something like that right now. Dr. Samia also talked about how we should look at this entire situation with a positive outlook: “You have the opportunity to learn from this very special thing” and showed her confidence in students by saying that they are smart enough to survive this mode of education.

Dr. Farhat then talked about how the admin is thinking about careful phased opening and then moving along as the data dictates. She reassured the students that they are being heard and plans are being devised for the future. She also mentioned how she wished students were walking in their shoes so they would know how difficult this situation is. She claimed that other universities are reopening for financial means and to earn revenue that they would not earn otherwise via online learning and that LUMS is not making any savings in this entire situation.

After this, Ammar Shahid asked about the specifics regarding when will the partial reopening begins and who will be allowed back on campus? The Vice Chancellor took this question and responded that the details would be announced very soon and went on to mention how they have been working on improving the quality of online education, discussed the issue of SSE fees by stating that SSE is the most expensive school and that the fees consist of all the maintenance and other relevant costs that have also been cut to 30%. He also mentioned how the entire decision-making process is decentralized and more power is being given to the Deans. The VC also mentioned that the average student satisfaction for the online semester was almost the same as an on-campus semester, making it a ‘success,’ not acknowledging that instructor approval for Spring 2020 may have been based upon pre-COVID teaching. The university will start off by taking a few hundred students in first and make decisions after they see this stage’s results. He also mentioned how he will not break under pressure and threatening or blackmailing him will not work yet somehow conceding that protesting is everyone’s right.

Ayman Moazzam, a member of the student body, spoke up to side with the admin on how reopening the campus would be a catastrophic idea by citing various concerns, and instead pushed for a reduction in the fee. Aymen mentioned a few studies from Israel and other countries as a comparison to help make decisions but was refuted harshly by other students.

The Student Council’s General Secretary then asked about the tentative date when the students should expect an official correspondence from LUMS about the accommodations, which was replied with  ‘very soon’ by the admin representatives. Following this, Rojah Sheikh raised some points about the quality of online education and the need for the NC/Pass policy to which Dr. Farhat responded by mentioning how they are still debating on whether or not to keep the NC/Pass policy intact for Fall 2020. The VC further added that the faculty has been trained in the summers and effectively equipped for the online semester. He stated that the instructors would be making the course outlines more friendly for online semesters and would be more sensitive to the students’ environments and problems, while also introducing some feedback mechanisms to keep a check on the quality of the online semester.

To this Ammar Shahid responded with the concern that instructor evaluation forms are not a good tool of measuring the students’ satisfaction due to various reasons. However, this concern was not addressed properly by the administration. Safa Imran suggested well thought out ideas on how SOPs can be implemented in case of campus reopening while also presenting a clear image about what students want and think. Lastly, she also pointed out how making feminists or FemSoc at LUMS the scapegoat in this conversation – the way Professor Redding did – was completely outrageous.

The General Secretary raised the concern about students wanting a fee reduction in the online semester to which Dr. Farhat responded by saying that LUMS has a plethora of other expenses and extra costs incurred due to the pandemic. Dean OSAAdnan Khan then reprimanded the students as to how they are not being decent in the chat box and are displaying a spoilt behavior that shows entitlement: “Your entitlement and attitude should be in check. The tuition does not pay for all of our expenses, only 65-75% expenses. The university is in a financial bind since other sources of income have dried out; the donors are not donating as much. We have not cut Financial Assisstance, instead we have increased it.” A student sent a comment in the chatbox, “We pay 4.5 lac and we are entitled to our opinions”. To this Adnan Khan replied, “Take your money and go someplace else.”

Dr. Farhat also pointed out how it is the university’s right to tone police its students. Moving forward, Adnan Khan mentioned how we should keep an eye out for opportunities like pedagogical partnerships to give us some financial assistance.

Jibran Khalil raised the concern about the new SSE fee, “We should not be paying for maintenance; we should not be paying for any maintenance. We want complete transparency on what is it that we are paying for and how will it benefit us? Are SSE students only going to be using it [software]? If non-SSE students are also going to use it then it should be divided across the entire student body.” To this Dr. Farhat responded with, “SSE is the most expensive school and it is somewhat subsidized as well.”

Moving forward, a student pointed out the rude responses from the Dean of OSA, Adnan Khan, and asked when the FA decisions will be announced since the applications ended in February. Dr. Farhat responded inadequately by not covering the highlighted concerns.

Lastly, the VC stated that if LUMS does not open completely in Spring 2020-21 then we will shift to a hybrid model and that the hybrid system is here to stay for a while. The open house ended on the note that there would be more open communication from both the ends now onwards.

Reportedly, a protest may be organized at Lahore Press Club tomorrow to further press the LUMS administration to consider reopening LUMS.

 

 

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Time’s Up @LUMS Admin

Earlier this week, hundreds flocked to a Facebook live session hosted by the LUMS admin. The hashtag was enough to spike an interest as clearly, a lot seems to be going on at LUMS. The hashtag was particularly intriguing since it had been making rounds on twitter the past couple weeks, at times making trends reflecting the resounding call of the student body to help address their concerns. In all these instances of the LUMS student body coming together, one thing was evident, the students are desperate to grasp the attention of the LUMS admin, some hailing the admin to care more about its PR than addressing legitimate student concerns. But what is it that is brewing at LUMS? After a cursory attempt at digging into the issue, this is what we found:

Despite most universities opening up throughout the country, the LUMS admin has decided to take the easier route by refusing to open the campus. It was found that only about 200 students will be hosted in Fall 2020-2021. This is a particularly burning issue in the wake of insensitive “welcome back” content making rounds on the LUMS Instagram page, another social media platform that was filled with student pleas against the injustices of the admin.

LUMS had recently been under fire as a result of an undue fee hike, that too in the middle of a pandemic when most people are losing jobs. The admin did a good job of “reverting” the fee hike, instead only to distribute the brunt across younger batches. Things took a turn for the worse when it was revealed that the LUMS admin would continue to take the same amount of fees despite not welcoming student backs. But it gets worse. It was found that the admin has no strategy or willingness to welcome students back on campus and has refused to invest in capacity building measures to at least ensure that students can be welcomed back in Spring.

Citing a deficit in overall finances as the reason to make students pay increasing amounts, a fact negated by the Not-for-Profit institute’s financial statements found online and the reckless spending on fountains and the previous orientation week, that too despite slashing down on student financial aid, is appalling, to say the least. The LUMS admin time and again has refused to address student concerns resulting in undue hostility where students are pressing towards rogue measures, some even citing a potential protest that could be underway.

The students feel that bad PR is probably the only thing that could get the attention of relevant authorities who are currently not even in the country, making insensitive decisions affecting the lives of those who have to deal with the negative consequences of an inadequate infrastructure such as internet connectivity and often home environments not conducive to learning. This is particularly problematic because there has been a significant decrease in the active coronavirus cases within Pakistan, and a recovery rate currently at 98%. But of course, you need to be on the ground and not in countries plagued by increasing deaths and an exponential increase in the number of active cases to be able to make sound decisions. The severe lack of communication seems to be making things worse. LUMS prides itself on the diversity of its student body with students hailing from a host of regions across the country, but they seem to only use that, in addition to the National Outreach Program, as a marketing gimmick to attract students and investors alike. Time is up LUMS admin. Stop playing with the lives of your student body.

#ReopenLUMS.

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The Sins of a Nation

We are often reminded in our endearing history books that the glorious Taj Mahal was built by 20,000 workers who worked day and night for 20 years. The story concludes in a blood-curdling manner; the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan orders the men to have their hands chopped down in hopes that the Taj Mahal remains the only such majestic enterprise. The validity of the story is flimsy, however, the idea is quite straightforward; there is a human cost for what we create, what we use, and what we revere. One can see this human cost when it comes to landmarks, but how does one reconcile when a similar idea is presented in constructing a state? The standard response is an ode to the fallen heroes, men (because women are more often than not erased from such narratives) that sacrificed their lives so that we could have a better tomorrow. The same heroes are then remembered when something goes awry; did the martyrs of our nation fight for autonomy so that you could create a rather half-witted Tiktok? Whilst I of course do not deny the legacy of those that died on the frontline, there is something missing that renders the picture of history incomplete. And as you would see, it is more than just a blot in history; it continues to be the paradox that haunts those in power.

The United States was formed in 1776. The founding fathers Washington and Jefferson had apparently created the first nation built upon principles of freedom and liberty. In 1791, the 2nd Amendment even allowed citizens to bear arms, in the prediction that they may need to resist a future tyrannical regime. It was the alleged blueprint for a democratic nation, but alas the reality was a stark reminder of wishful thinking that many conservative commentators continue to evoke. In many states, around 1/5th of the population consisted of slaves, shipped mostly from Western Africa, against their will of course. Whilst more than 20% of them died aboard the disease infested ships, the remainder didn’t have much of a life anyway. Forced to work on cotton plantations, the men served as the actual backbone into building the US economy that relied on cotton as a major export. The women were separated from their men, and often worked as domestic workers, with reports of rampant sexual and mental abuse. Indeed, as Jefferson talked about the liberties of man and even about the oppression of blacks, he is reported to have freed only 7 out of more than 200 slaves he had power over. It is undeniable that these people were brought against their will to a foreign land, with most never returning to their homes. They were systematically abused as people and were coerced into developing the economy and subsequently the American nation. Most people acknowledge these wrongs, but that is precisely the problem. By accepting it is wrong in the past, it remains just that. Something that warrants disgust and anger when reading about it or watching a documentary, but then thanking God that we passed through that. Except many would argue that we didn’t.

There are ways that the enduring legacy of the slave-trade is beyond just the legislature or even the cultural discourse of the times. As slavery was outlawed after the Civil War, racist oppression took a new form. Organized groups like the KKK lynched black people without remorse and even after this practice faded away there was no respite. The Jim Crow statutes continued to deny black people the space to sit, travel, or even to think. But that was the 1950s and 1960s. More than half a century has passed, and the fact that a black jogger can be killed in broad daylight, and his killers prosecuted only after a leaked recording and subsequent public outcry, means that the racism is alive and well. Even as the George Floyd protests rage on, observation is often posited by many people including ourselves; “America seems more obsessed with race than most countries”. Many conservative commentators would follow a similar line of thought. If anything, I think it is the perfect answer. Only, the obsession here is not only warranted but also a means for any change to a broken system. It is this obsession that drives folk to drown the statue of Edward Colston in England, symbolically drowning the symbolic endearment of the slave-trade. It is an obsession that drives John Boyega, a Hollywood actor to vilify the legacy of white supremacy, risking his career in the process. And it is surely obsession that drives the George Floyd protestors to press on, as they are drowned in tear gas, labeled as thugs and looters, and are at risk of contracting the coronavirus. It is this obsession that will surely continue until Confederate statues stand tall whilst the slaves remain mere clandestine figures of history, until the police choke, maim and murder black people until the specter of discrimination reigns supreme. However, the United States is no exception to this. Every nation has this specter, and as it is chained and hidden, fear the day it breaks free and seeks revenge. As an African proverb resonates strongly,” The axe forgets but the tree remembers”.  This tree has taken many forms of the oppressed. The Kashmiris of the Subcontinent, the Kurds in the Middle East, the indigenous people of the Americas; the list, unfortunately, has no end. And these trees remember what happened to them, and what continues to happen to them as they are chopped down. As black people around the world protest to claim their rightful place in the past, present, and future, the oppressed of the world watch them. The question of them asking for their legacy is not a question of if but when.