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YOUTH are highly innovative in expressing their anger. Meanwhile, ruling elites struggle to understand that the existing power structure can no longer meet the aspirations of the young. The context of this statement is neither the events in Delhi, where the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) succeeded in achieving its demands, nor the violent protests in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, nor the recent provocative statement by the federal interior minister about the state system. Rather, the reference is to a silent protest by the youth of Khuzdar in Balochistan, in which they succeeded in having their demand met. Is it not a unique event in Pakistan when the demands of the youth are met?
What was the youth’s demand? The reopening of a local library, where students study and prepare for their civil service examinations. The library was closed by the local bureaucracy, quite likely with the consent of superior institutions, which see books and libraries as sources of dissent. One cannot spare the bureaucracy either, which has a narrow vision and has been taught to rule like colonial masters. There is a high probability that in Khuzdar, too, they would have seen the youth’s inclination towards books and literature as a potential threat to security. It is ironic that most students, including many female students, were using the library as a safe and peaceful space to prepare for their exams. Most of them aspired to become bureaucrats, but the bureaucracy itself had shut down the library and closed the door to their future.
