For those of us born in the early 1990s in Pakistan - who came of age in the 2000s and entered college at the turn of the first and second decades of the new millennium - our formative years were shaped by a nation still grappling with the aftermath of a military coup and the shifting contours of a post-9/11 world order.

Our civic sense came not from open dialogues, but rather through hushed conversations, censored newspapers and television broadcasts. Student unions were not a lived reality, but an almost mythical chapter our teachers recalled with reverence. For our generation, political expression felt like an inheritance that had somehow bypassed us. We were encouraged to succeed in academics and services, but seldom to interrogate the systems and structures that governed us.

Fast forward two decades, and the transformation is palpable, but paradoxical. Today's youth are more informed, more connected, and arguably more courageous. They challenge gender norms, demand climate action, and question inherited........

© The Express Tribune