Violence on campus

Some questions should be raised concerning the role of the Rangers stationed on the campus. One wonders why they did nothing to stop the hoodlums from going berserk, and arrest them. They remained mere spectators watching the warring groups firing bullets across the campus the whole day. It seems that the student groups had been able to store caches of arms inside the premises before the eruption of clashes, which raises many an eyebrow at the university administration's check on such activities. Among other things, the ugly episode bears testimony to the fact that the gun culture in our centres of education, first introduced during the 1980s, continues to prevail.

Immediate action needs to be taken to put an end to the bloodshed. The swelling masses present at the funeral procession of those killed in Karachi University and the sound of gunfire that echoed around, however, do not bode well. Business had already been badly affected by the transporters' strike on Wednesday. It is a pity that rather than asking student union members to show restraint, the leaders of both parties are spewing venom against each other. Time for the government to be tough on these rogue players.