Student Solidarity March: Thousands take to streets nationwide

Across the country on Friday, students, activists, and civil society members, as well as academics and politicians protested to mark what organizers have called the "Student Solidarity March".

The key demands that the protesters have made include the restoration of student unions, legislation to ensure the creation of independent sexual harassment committees on university campuses, an end to the discrimination of students based on gender and ethnicity, a ten percent increase in the education budget, and the demilitarization of campuses across the country.

Lahore, as arguably the country's most concentrated space in terms of higher education institutes, saw what is believed to be the largest gathering for the march in the country. With posters of Che Guevara, Rosa Luxemborg, and Mashal Khan - who was lynched to his death on a university campus - the left-leaning orientation of march's organizers became apparent. People's Party representatives and unions within Punjab also participated with students. Mashal Khan's father, Iqbal Khan, was also present during the march to address the gathered protesters.

In Islamabad, members of the Awami Workers Party were also present during the march in the capital. Speakers said that the government's reforms were turning medical colleges into corporations, and demanded that they be given the freedom to express their thoughts and their demands free from any bureaucratic intermediaries.

In Larkana, the murder case of Nimrita Kumari, a Hindu medical college student whose case is believed to have been suppressed by the Chandka Medical College administration, featured heavy during the march.

In Karachi, the march was also attended by writer Mohammed Hanif and activist Jibran Nasir. Nasir, while talking to media, said: "I have come to support our country's future. Students are our future. We must realise that our future will never be bright if we keep on lighting monuments of the past."

In Peshawar, the Awami National Party endorsed the protest, with the president of the party, Aimal Wali Khan tweeting: "ANP supports #StudentsSolidarityMarch. Students must have the right to assemble and speak for their rights. I urge all members of Pakhtun Students Federation to actively take part in the march."

In Quetta, hundreds of students came out, in spite of a recent move by the provincial government to ban all student political activity within the province. 

The Student Solidarity March is believed to be the largest student protest in Pakistan to have happened in the past few decades. Whether the march will turn into a political movement remains to be seen, as the government has yet to make any formal response to the protest.