Having served as the Registrar of Quaid-i-Azam University for three years (2021–2024), I am compelled to reflect with candour on the current state of one of Pakistan’s most prestigious institutions. This is not an exercise in nostalgia, nor an attempt to assign blame in abstract terms. It is an effort to confront an uncomfortable reality with honesty, clarity, and a sense of institutional responsibility.

Quaid-i-Azam University was not built merely as a collection of departments and building rather it has long stood as a symbol of academic excellence, intellectual diversity, and progressive thought. It has produced scholars, policymakers, and professionals who have contributed meaningfully to national and global discourse. Yet over time, and more visibly in recent years, the university has experienced a steady erosion of discipline, academic seriousness, and institutional ethos. It has been shaped by identifiable trends and practices that now demand serious reflection and decisive response.

At the heart of this deterioration lies the transformation of illegitimate ethnic councils into entrenched andparallel power structures with outright miscreant behaviour. What may once have been claimed as forums of representation and cultural expression have, over time, evolved into instruments of disorder. Their influence now extends far beyond legitimate student engagement, often overriding institutional authority and shaping campus dynamics in ways that are fundamentally incompatible with the idea of a university.

A regressive culture has consequently taken........

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