Samad Khurram - Behaviors Explained

By ANIA

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Samad’s action was indeed commendable. Being a Roots student, I was present in the hall. The audience did not respond the way it ought to have, because firstly it happened too quickly, in a ceremony that was going smoothly with students coming and collecting their awards, the audience was caught off guard.

Another major point is, that it was a high achievers’ ceremony, held to honor the top students. While a handful of the alumni was invited, Samad being the oldest student, the audience consisted of O’ and A’ Level students [merely school going and not university ones] and their parents, who had only come to see their children getting awards, and not to make any statements.

The fact that the chief guest was the American Ambassador was simply overlooked. Therefore the audience just did not see the political stance that Samad had taken, The students were also current Rootseans [Roots], and had, like students from all institutions, loyalty towards their school and administration, while loyalty towards the country is definitely much more, they were hesitant as they did not want to embarrass the U.S. ambassador, at the cost of embarrassing their own administration.

While in retrospect there may have been different reactions, the spontaneous response was but natural. There should have been a protest to the administration for not calling the Ambassador in the first place. The institution was wrong in inviting the U.S. Ambassador, especially in the current circumstances.

The invitation should have been called off and Mrs. Kiyani could have given the awards. Some news channels and reports say that Samad has also returned the scholarship, which is not true as he is still a Harvard student. Also his protest was not only against the U.S. strike, but also, in his own words, against the “unconstitutional president.”