Pakistan, June 7 -- Pakistan's higher education system is facing a deepening crisis, characterized by authoritarian interference, elite capture, and the systematic erosion of academic autonomy. Governmental control over core academic functions-such as curriculum design, faculty recruitment, and academic freedom-has severely compromised the independence of universities.

Instead of fostering spaces for intellectual inquiry and civic engagement, universities are increasingly being transformed into instruments of conformity, obedience, and ideological alignment. This transformation is neither accidental nor organic; it is the outcome of deliberate structural decay fueled by centralized authority, political manipulation, and an exclusionary m...