Students in Lahore seek an open investigation into “rape and harassment” incidents.
In addition to demanding harsh penalties for those responsible and safer campuses for students, the Student Action Committee Lahore, which is made up of students from a variety of educational institutions, has called for open investigations into rape and harassment incidents at Punjab College and Lahore College for Women University (LCWU).
It also called for the release of all students from detention and action against police officers who tortured students during rallies.
On Monday, the committee arranged a demonstration against harassment and rape in front of the Punjab Assembly at The Mall, which was attended by students from GC University, FC College, Punjab College, LCWU, and Garrison College. In addition to schoolchildren, the demonstration was attended by parents, public and private sector employees, and Revolutionary Communist Party members. In Lahore, a sizable police presence was visible everywhere, particularly outside of schools.
A student action committee in Lahore was established by students from various educational institutions with the goal of uniting all Lahore students on a single platform.
The demonstrators said that some 50 million pupils, many of whom were girls, were enrolled in the province’s educational institutions and that they lived in dread and insecurity. They insisted that the government act right away to resolve the issue in a way that satisfied them.
The organisers said that the security services had gotten in touch with them and other students to warn them that taking part in the protest could jeopardise their lives and jobs.
Representatives of the Student Action Committee Lahore declared that the demonstration would go on until all of their demands were met. They said that the protest movement will be broadened and that student action committees would be established in all of Lahore’s educational institutions.
The committee requested that all of the material in police custody and the actions done thus far be made public, as well as a forensic analysis of the CCTV footage from the week when the alleged rape at Punjab College was reported. “A report based on all the evidence should be made public after the government looks into harassment incidents at the LCWU.”
The students also called for the immediate suspension and proper punishment of the police officers who attacked them as well as those who issued instructions. They insisted that all students who had been arrested be released right away and that all charges against them be dropped.
The college administration, instructors, managers, and staff members who intimidated the students should be immediately held accountable, they added, and the arrests of students under the pretence of the Cyber Crime Act must end. They argued that in order for students to know how their tuition money was being used, all college accounts ought to be made public.
In order to include their views in all decisions made on campus and to stop the administration from taking anti-student activities, including as harassment, they called for the students to be able to organise democratically elected student action committees on each campus.
They called for the nationalisation of all private educational establishments, the cessation of the commercialisation of education, and the provision of free, high-quality education at all levels.
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