PAKISTAN: Varsity tensions reflect intractable feuds

Last semester ended ominously on the campus of one of Pakistan's largest universities, with a flurry of clashes involving armed student organisations, a professors' strike against violence, cancelled exams and a lunchtime bombing, writes Karin Brulliard for The Washington Post.

The University of Karachi began a new session last week, two weeks late, under the watch of army rangers deployed as peacekeepers. Shaken professors and students spoke of hope for a fresh start but also betrayed fear, referring to instigators only as 'activists', instead of what they are - wings of national political parties that employ brutality and coercion to gain clout on campus.

In that sense, professors here say, the situation is a worrisome, if far less lethal, microcosm of the ethnic and sectarian feuds splitting this economic hub of 18 million. "Instead of discussion, their mood is agitation," said Khalid Iraqi, a public administration professor who said he recently resigned as the university's head security officer. "No one wants to face these people."
Full report on The Washington Post site