Ammar Rashid

Rashid got his early education from schools in Rawalpindi. He did BSc (Hons) in Economics and Social Sciences in 2008 from Lahore University of Management Sciences and a master's degree in development studies in 2012, from Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK.[14] In LUMS, he was student of Aasim Sajjad Akhtar.

Rashid, as a professional has been involved in teaching and research work on areas ranging from health reform to public education, gender and development, public policy, political economy, tax reform, sub-national governance etc. His research interests include political theory and collective action. He also taught at Centre of excellence for Gender Studies department at Quaid-i-Azam University and at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad.[15] He worked as programme officer of Social Sector in National Disaster Management Authority (Pakistan). He is senior researcher at Heartfile.[16][17][18] He also worked with Federal Board of Revenue and Alif Ailaan.[19]

Rashid contested for the 2018 Pakistani general election on National assembly seat NA-53 in federal capital Islamabad. Out of 312142, he secured 912 votes.[63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70]

His electoral campaign included the agenda of “social justice, democracy, gender equality, secularism and environmentally sustainable development”.[71] Rashid vowed to revive left-wing politics by bringing back ideological strength to politics.[72]

His election manifesto focused to solve water problem, Rs. 30,000 as minimum wage with continuous increase in proportional to the price hike, allocation of 10% of the total GDP for education and free education to everyone.[73]

During the 2018 election campaign, Rashid along with his party workers, due to security concerns, were not allowed to enter Islamabad with election material, which included relevant banners but he said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) banners could be seen across Islamabad. According to him, this certainly strengthens the narrative that these elections are engineered and Pakistan cannot afford these allegations at this point.[74]"

Rashid is strong supporter of potential of country's youth to carry out political struggles and voice their opinion against all odds by thinking and differentiating between the wrong and right and will always continue to stand for the right.

Rashid, on social media expressed solidarity with the campaign organizers of Students Solidarity March, 2018 along with other notable personalities like Iqbal Lala (father of the late Mashal Khan, Bushra Gohar, Jalila Haider, Nida Kirmani, Jibran Nasir, Farooq Tariq. The Charter of Demands presented by students in march included restoring student unions, student representation in decision-making on campuses, functional sexual harassment policies on campuses, freezing the fee hikes, increasing the budgetary allowing for education to 5% of GDP and improving the quality of research and teaching.[75]

On April 13, 2019, Rashid urged students and progressive people to join the Mashal March, to honor Mashal Khan who was killed by his fellow students in university campus on false accusation of blasphemy. Rashid said that the march would call for structural reform of what he described as rotten education system that produced Mashal's killers.[76]

On October 24, 2019, a large number of students, political workers and activists gathered for Student Housing Rights March (Talba Haq-e-Rihayesh March) in Islamabad, protesting against CDA for its forceful eviction of students from private hostels in Islamabad.[77] The march was organized by Progressive Students Federation (PRSF), Student Hostelites Association (SHA), supported by Awami Workers Party (AWP).[78][79] Rashid, as an organizer of the march, addressed to the occasion, "the broader crisis in higher education which includes funding cuts for the HEC, fee hikes, endemic and widespread harassment as evident from University of Balochistan’s case[80] and management high handedness, which led to Inam’s death[81] at COMSATS University Islamabad."[82]

On November 29, 2019, Rashid organized and performed in the Students Solidarity March, 2019.[83]

Rashid is also a musician. His music is a mix of acoustic, classical and folk and he regularly performs revolutionary songs and poetry at political events organized by his political party.[84][85][86]

On Women's Day, 2015, Rashid, as information Secretary AWP Rawalpindi-Islamabad, performed in the conference arranged for gender equality.

On May 9, 2015, under the banner of Rashid's party, AWP and National Students Federation (NSF), a concert titled as Songs of Freedom-2015 was held at the Aabpara Community Centre, Islamabad to raise awareness of student politics and political rights in city's youth and to make them appreciate revolutionary music and art. As information secretary of AWP Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Rashid played guitar and sang the revolutionary songs: “Hum dekhein gay”, “Aaj bazaar main” along with Kalaam of Khawaja Ghulam Farid and other classical Sufi poets.[87]

On May 6, 2016, at the event of Songs of freedom-2016, Rashid played revolutionary songs to lift ban on student unions, to reignite the progressive and democratic spirit among students. and stressed heavily for the right for students to unionise along with other NSF's organisers and performers during the event in Islamabad. Student unions were banned by Gen Ziaul Haq in 1984 in an attempt to suppress expressions of dissent against his dictatorship.[88]

During campaign of 2018 Pakistani general election, Rashid released an official Election Campaign Song along with an explosive music video to boost popularity of AWP among Pakistanis. The song titles as ‘Chehre Nahi Samaaj Ko Badlo’ (Change the society, Not just faces). The powerful lyrics of song demanded people to change themselves in order to bring about an overall change in society. Rashid performed the song with another Pakistani singer and economist Shahram Azhar.[89]

For Aurat Azadi March 2020, Ammar composed the anthem song “Hum Inquilab Hain” (We are Revolution) written by Ismat Shahjahan and sung in chorus with Ismat Shahjahan, Shahzadi Hussain, Huda Bhurgri, Areej Hussain and Ayesha Khan.[90][91]

Rashid, along with his other party workers helps in organizing political schools and study circles to raise awareness about understanding of social, economic and political structures of inequality and oppression along with methods of organizing progressive political resistance and ideological strengthening in Pakistani people. The agenda of this initiative is to act like a modern alternative to Pakistan's age-old curriculum, focusing on a radicalized concept of ‘dismantling systems of oppression’, to target the root of issues plaguing society so that, effective solutions can be designed.[92][93]

On September 2, 2018, the second day of political school, Rashid delivered a lecture on `Capitalism: On the Roots of our Economic Crisis'. He gave a detailed examination of colonialism, industrial capitalism and world economic history, the developments and changes causing decline in feudal mode of production through merchant capitalism.[94]

Rashid has published and continues to publish regular articles on student politics, development, feminism, political economy, environment etc. in newspapers and magazines (Daily Times (Pakistan),[95] Dawn News,[96] The Express Tribune,[97] The Guardian,[98] Pakistan Today[99]).