THIS is with reference to the article ‘Restoring unions’ (May 6), which argued that incidents of violence started when unions were banned, and that students used to participate in ‘healthy academic activities’ and had their say in academic matters. It also implied that some religious party’s students’ wing filled up the vacuum created by absence of unions on university campuses.

I belong to the generation that had seen how student unions used to operate, and I can give you first-hand information that the unions were the actual cause of political polarisation, violence, harassment and indiscipline.

Student wings of all political parties were active at the universities. The student wing of a religious political party dominated the scene in Karachi and Punjab universities, and indulged in violence. Union elections at Sindh University were held on an ethnic basis and the university was the epicentre of what at the time was considered a separatist movement.

Hostels were attacked, and non-Sindhi professors were humiliated and coerced to raise slogans in which they did not believe. After the banning of the unions, the environment of universities actually became more academic as politicisation was pushed to the back seat.

I do not see any political student wing at least in the country’s private-sector universities. Why do we want to release this hazardous demon again and poison the environment of public universities?

Khayyam Durrani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2023