#MeToo in Pakistani Universities

Pakistani universities have faced some of the most documented and most dismissed MeToo cases. Students — dependent on professors for grades, references, and academic futures — are maximally vulnerable to exploitation.

The power dynamic

A professor controls a student's grade, thesis approval, reference letters, and research opportunities. This power differential is what makes academic harassment so effective and so silenced. Students calculate: report and lose my degree, or stay silent and survive.

University responses

HEC (Higher Education Commission) has harassment policies. Most universities have harassment committees on paper. In practice, investigations favour the accused, complainants are pressured to withdraw, and consequences are rare.

The students who spoke anyway

Several high-profile cases at major Pakistani universities — IBA, LUMS, Karachi University — became public in 2018–2022. Students shared testimonies on social media when institutional channels failed. Some professors were suspended. Most returned.

The record exists now. That matters.