November 8, 2018: CODE PAKISTAN held another consultation with the students and faculty of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore, on countering on-campus violent extremism in Pakistan. The consultations focused on Pakistan’s legal framework on preventing incitement to violence and exploring causes of violence and types of extremism in youth.
The students and faculty members of LUMS actively participated in the consultation. The faculty members and students of LUMS were of the view that courses on humanities needed to be encouraged in all universities and needed to be made mandatory for all students, including students of natural sciences. They further argued that sports and extra-curricular activities needed to be encouraged and promoted in all universities across Pakistan.
The students and faculty members of LUMS shared that LUMS had a number of active student bodies working toward the promotion of positive activities among them. They shared that countering violent extremism was an essential component of the extra-curricular activities of the students of LUMS. They shared that the besides celebrating Islamic religious festivals the students of LUMS also celebrated the Hindu festival of Diwali on their campus to promote tolerance for other religious beliefs. The faculty members of LUMS emphasized that they took a keen interest in sensitizing the students toward such issues and to promote tolerance for diversity among them.
The students and faculty members of LUMS were also of the view that since a very strong culture of peaceful coexistence existed on campus at LUMS, many of them might not be fully cognizant of the severity of the problem elsewhere in other universities of the country.
Alongside the students, the participants of the consultation included the following prominent faculty members of LUMS: Prof. Farid Panjwani, Ms. Hiba Zakai, Dr. Mudassir Razzaq, and Mr. Yunas Samad. The consultation was part of a series of consultations that CODE PAKISTAN has planned with the faculties and students of various universities across Pakistan.