Pakistani students secured a remarkable victory at the prestigious Oxford Union debate, defeating their Indian counterparts with a decisive two-thirds majority on Thursday, November 28, 2025.
The debate centered on the motion: “This House Believes India’s Policy Towards Pakistan Is a Populist Strategy Sold as Security Policy.” In a decisive outcome, the proposition represented by speakers from Pakistan secured a landslide victory, winning 160 votes to 51.
Three Oxford students, Musa Haraj, Asrar Khan Kakar, and Ahmed Nawaz Khan, represented Pakistan and delivered strong, well-researched arguments during the debate. India had initially appointed prominent figures such as General Naravane, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, and Sachin Pilot, but all three declined to participate.
India eventually sent a lower-profile panel consisting of J Sai Deepak, Pandit Satish Sharma, and Devarchan Banerjee. However, the replacement team struggled to counter Pakistan’s fact-based arguments and logical reasoning.
Opening the case, Harraj framed India’s policy towards Pakistan as increasingly shaped by electoral incentives rather than national security realities, arguing that the Indian government has instrumentalized anti-Pakistan sentiment as a reliable populist tool.
The result was a resounding victory for the Pakistani side, winning by a two-thirds majority, despite the fact that the Oxford Union has a higher number of Indian members. This made the achievement even more significant, as Pakistani students won despite facing a largely Indian-majority audience.
Experts have praised this accomplishment, highlighting that success on such a prestigious global platform proves Pakistan’s narrative is stronger when backed by facts and logical argumentation. The withdrawal of India’s high-level speakers and the subsequent defeat of their secondary panel exposed weaknesses in India’s intellectual stance on the issue.
