A FEW months ago there were clashes between Pakhtun and Sindhi students of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) and now we have seen clashes between Baloch and Sindhi students.

Students councils, ostensibly formed in the name of education and culture, are breeding grounds for such ugly incidents in prestigious institutes like QAU. Most of these councils tend to support the inappropriate and illegal actions of their student members.

The cultural and educational councils of QAU, International Islamic University and National University of Modern Languages are no different than the political and nationalist parties of University of Sindh, Bolan University and Peshawar University, and are also often divided into political and ethnic camps.

Instead of being educational or cultural, these councils simply tend to reflect ethnicity, feudal values and the Khan system in Pakistan.

The Higher Education Commission, vice-chancellors and rectors must ban such councils to save the reputations of these prestigious institutes.

Salahuddin Bhutto

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2017