Dissecting IJT

Islami Jamiat Talaba presents a prime example of individual decency, choice and priorities being subsumed by delusional and myopic collective identity. The individual judgment of its members surrenders completely to the herd instinct of survival. What Jamiat does on campuses is for its survival which is always presented in protection of Islam, glory of eastern values and championing of patriotism. Violence is the only tool for IJT to impose its values and thinking on others. Their collective thinking is dogmatic and that is easy to defend, their members will listen to music, will have love affairs, will enjoy life (everyone should or must or have right to), but they will not allow anyone doing it publicly on university campuses. The reason: they have been brainwashed into thinking that such events in public spaces are going to invite obscenity and erode the Islamic culture and threaten the foundation of Pakistan. At some level I have sympathy for the young and impressionable minds of IJT for they are victims of hypocritical institutionalization right from their school days. Don't look at Jamiat as a political organization or party, look at it as a cult. It has made young people victims of cognitive dissonance.

IJT is different from other terrorist organizations in a way that they allow you to do 'unIslamic' things in private. Their violence will visit you when you take the 'dirty' things into the open. As I said, its members are brainwashed, so, don't expect reason and logic from them. They will only answer with violence. And will then provide legitimacy to their violence through loud and frenetic slogans. Bright young people act as zombies at campuses and impose their bleak vision of piety, modesty and puritanism on other students. My evidence for this claim is the statistics. Why is it that in every clash between students, IJT is always the other group? And dig a bit more and you will find that every clash involving Jamiat is traced back to either of two things: music and women. Take cultural events being attacked, take valentine day celebrations being attacked. Arrange a tea party in a mess and Nazim of Jamiat will grace the occasion by his smile. Play music and allow gender mixing and that same Nazim will be leading a mob with the slogans of Allah-o-Akbar.

I get asked how we can stop IJT. The simple answer is student unions. Accept the right of students to form elected bodies. It is done throughout the world. As democracy in the country has seen its parent organization crumbling, so, elections and student unions will also be a last nail in their coffin. If teachers are allowed to have a collective bargaining power, the class 4 are allowed that, the clerks at campuses are allowed that, why not students? University students are above 18 years of age, we allow them to elect our PM but we don't allow them to elect their own representative who can talk on their behalf to university administration. Only unregulated student bodies provide the ground for hooliganism of Jamiat. Regulate student bodies and Jamiat is a thing from a scary past of campus life.