November 8, 2018: CODE PAKISTAN held a consultation with the students and faculty of the Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, on countering on-campus violent extremism in Pakistan. The consultations focused peacebuilding through on-campus extra-curricular activities and role of female faculty and students in countering extremism.
The students and faculty members of Kinnaird College for Women shared that Kinnaird College was already offering a course on counter-extremism and counter-extremism in its Political Science department. They further shared that a debating society was already quite active, which was engaging female students in healthy extracurricular activities, including dialogues on subjects that were usually considered taboo in the society.
The students and faculty members of the Kinnaird College for Women endorsed the idea of greater interaction between the college students and female madrassah students. They added, however, that the state needed to take responsibility for the security of the country. The students and faculty members of Kinnaird College for Women added that the college hosted numerous literary clubs and societies to encourage the female students to gain further interest in issues of national importance and to instil confidence in them to be able to talk on those subjects.
The students and faculty members of Kinnaird College for Women further added that the college hosted weekly events on various issues spearheaded by different departments of the college. They cited the example of the Business Department, which invited self-starting entrepreneurs to set up their kiosks on the campus to showcase their work.
Alongside the students, the participants of the consultation included the following prominent faculty members of the Kinnaird College for Women: Ms. Uzma Imran, Ms. Dure Shahwar, Ms. Tehreem Aslam Aurakzai, Dr. Warda Gul, Ms. Amber Fatima, Ms. Bushra Jabeen, Ms. Asma Awan, Dr. Iram Anjum, Dr. Tanveer Majeed, Dr. Samra Jaffri, and Dr. Anood Sohail. The consultation was one of a series of consultations that CODE PAKISTAN is holding with the faculties and students of various universities across Pakistan.