A section of academia and administration at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, increasingly advances a troubling yet widely held perception: that diversity, when expressed through organised regional affiliations, is closely associated with disorder on campus.

In this reading, the university’s quota-based admissions system—designed to draw students from across Pakistan—has produced not only a diverse student body, but also one in which regional identities occasionally harden into structured councils and collective platforms.

From this standpoint, diversity is not a neutral backdrop. It becomes, instead, a visible force—one that sometimes gathers itself into blocs, speaks in unison and asserts presence in ways that can appear disruptive to institutional rhythm. Hence, regional student councils are often interpreted as the organisational face of this diversity and at times, as its most........

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