Student unions.

Byline: Azmat Ansari - Karachi

I INTERVIEWED two vice-chancellors of Karachi University for the press. Those days the university was much in the news on account of the doings of the student union. Rival student groups fought for or against a given union with pistols and Kalashnikovs. Those who did not have sophisticated weapons wore knuckledusters or carried batons and sticks.

The two VCs told me that the trigger-happy union members were connected with one minister or another. Any action they took was quickly reversed. They couldn't get even the hostel rooms vacated that were used as arsenal by the students. Sanity and...