The Oxford Union, which bills itself as the world's foremost debating society, is in the news again and the news is not good.
As you probably remember, incoming union president George Abaraonye made a fool of himself a few months ago by posting messages mocking Charlie Kirk's assassination. Those messages quickly leaked to the public and created a firestorm of anger directed at Abaraonye and the Oxford Union.
I have been sent internal @OxfordUnion group chats by an anonymous member showing comments from George Abaraonye, the incoming President-Elect, celebrating Charlie Kirk's m*rder. Some of these messages have not previously been made public.
— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) September 12, 2025
The chats include memes posted by… pic.twitter.com/TK5x2kKWow
In October the Union seemed to be making efforts to right the ship by holding a vote to have Abaraonye removed. That vote succeeded but only after claims that some people advocating for Abaraonye had behaved badly. He denied it and claimed the vote total was not reliable and that the was still president of the union. But his appeal failed and that was the end of his leadership.
Last week, Abaraonye finally seemed to have received the message that his behavior was not appreciated. He made the rounds apologizing for his behavior.
On September 10, after hearing of the shooting, he wrote in a WhatsApp group of Union members: “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f***ing go”, posting a similar message on Instagram.
Abaraonye, 20, who is studying philosophy, politics and economics at University College, Oxford, said his comments were posted before footage of the shooting had begun circulating online...
“I had very little context for what I was reacting to, but I wanted to start a conversation … I missed the mark … and that’s why I deleted and retracted my comments,” he said. “As soon as I saw how serious it was, I went on Instagram to apologise.”...
He said: “I want to offer my apologies and my condolences. No one deserves to lose a husband, no child deserves to grow up without a father. I hope that they are able, in some capacity, to move on from what was a tragic event and to that end, I am very sorry.”
The idea that a 20-year-old needs "context" when learning that someone has been shot seems like a stretch. He clearly thought it was funny when it happened. He's also been talking about the angry backlash he received and how awful that was because, get this, he didn't feel safe.
At the height of the abuse, he said he felt “really scared” for himself and for other students who were targeted after being mistaken for him. He feared the situation could “spill into something more, like someone getting hurt”.
Well, yes, I'm sure feeling unsafe is awful but that's exactly why you shouldn't make a mockery of someone else becoming a victim of exactly that kind of violence. Again, it's amazing that any 20-year-old at Oxford doesn't know this already, much less the president of the Oxford Union.
Unfortunately, that's not the only public embarrassment involving the Oxford Union in the news in the past few days. Just days after Abaraonye was ejected in a vote of no confidence, the union held another vote of no confidence, this time in current president Moosa Harraj. Harraj survived that vote amid lots of internal acrimony between himself and Abaraonye.
Mr Harraj survived Thursday's vote with 829 of the 1288 ballots cast voting against the motion to depose him.
The motion had been instigated following Mr Abaraonye's defeat on Tuesday.
Ahead of the motion, Mr Harraj alleged that it was a "calculated act of political retaliation".
He claimed it had been driven by "spite and hatred" and brought by those who wished "to bring the institution down with them".
Harraj then set up another high-profile debate on the topic of India's relations with Pakistan. The debate topic was: “This House Believes India’s Policy Towards Pakistan is a Populist Strategy Sold as Security Policy” and it was set to take place on October 27, last Thursday. Harraj is Pakistani and is apparently the son of Pakistan's federal defence production minister, Muhammad Raza Hayat Hiraj.
But the debate never happened and the circumstances appear very suspicious. The India side of the debate was led by litigator J Sai Deepak from Delhi. However, two days before the debate, he was informed that the other two debaters on the Indian side were unable to make it. The Oxford Union the said it has found substitutes.
However, the union contacted Deepak again on the day before the debate to say those substitute debaters were also unavailable. Two more substitutes, who were already located in the UK, agreed to participate so Deepak took his flight from Delhi and landed in London on the morning of the 27th. The debate was scheduled for that night.
And that's when things got even stranger. As the three debaters for India were preparing to board a train from London to Oxford, Deepak received a call saying the Pakistanis hadn't shown up.
11. Since we were told the Pakistani side hadn't turned up, we didnt see the point in going to Oxford. So we stayed back in London. At 4.11 pm, I shot a mail to Moosa expressing my displeasure. At 4.55 pm, I got a call from Moosa apologizing for the bungling of the event.
— Sai Deepak J (@jsaideepak) November 28, 2025
He has since learned that none of that was true. In fact, the Pakistani debaters had not only landed, they were being put up in a hotel in Oxford.
12. Moosa claimed that he received a call at 10 am yesterday that the Pakistani team wouldn't be coming. Obviously, he knew earlier. Turns out that the Pakistani team did land and were put up at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford. Perhaps, they are still there.
— Sai Deepak J (@jsaideepak) November 28, 2025
17. Correction- The Pakistani team was staying, and perhaps still is, at the George Street Hotel in Oxford, the same hotel that was arranged for my stay.
— Sai Deepak J (@jsaideepak) November 28, 2025
Even stranger, the official X account of the Pakistan High Commission in London posted a tweet claiming that Pakistan had won the debate by default after the Indian delegation had failed to show up.
Indian Delegation Backs Out Of Oxford Union Debate At Last Minute, Hands Walkover to Pakistani side
— Pakistan High Commission London (@PakistaninUK) November 27, 2025
The Pakistan High Commission in London @PakistaninUK regrets to announce that the Indian delegation scheduled to participate in a high profile debate at the Oxford Union…
Indian Delegation Backs Out Of Oxford Union Debate At Last Minute, Hands Walkover to Pakistani side
The Pakistan High Commission in London @PakistaninUK regrets to announce that the Indian delegation scheduled to participate in a high profile debate at the Oxford Union @OxfordUnion on 27 November 2025 has withdrawn at the last minute, effectively handing a walkover to the Pakistani side.
The parliamentary style debate was to be held on the motion, “This House Believes That India’s Policy Towards Pakistan Is a Populist Strategy Sold as Security Policy”. The event had been in preparation for several months, with formal invitations issued by the Oxford Union in June 2025 and confirmations received from both sides.
On the #Pakistan side, the confirmed speakers were:
▪ General (Retd) Zubair Mahmood Hayat, former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
▪ Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, former Foreign Minister of Pakistan
@HinaRKhar
▪ Dr. Mohammad Faisal, High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom
@DrMFaisal
The Indian side had confirmed the participation of:
▪ General M. M. Naravane, former Chief of Army Staff
▪ Dr Subramanian Swamy, former Law Minister and academic
▪ Mr Sachin Pilot, former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan
The Pakistani speakers had already arrived in #London and were scheduled to proceed to #Oxford today. Earlier this morning, however, the Oxford Union informed the organizers that all three Indian speakers had decided to pull out, offering no substantive explanation for their inability to attend a debate they had previously confirmed.
This sudden withdrawal has caused considerable embarrassment for the Oxford Union, one of the world’s leading debating societies, and has deprived its members of a rare opportunity to hear a structured, fact based exchange on a critical regional issue. It is particularly noteworthy that Indian members of the Union significantly outnumber Pakistani members. Yet even in what could reasonably be described as a friendly environment, the Indian side chose not to submit its policies to open scrutiny and a student vote.
The Pakistan High Commission believes that this last minute decision reflects a lack of confidence on the part of the Indian delegation in defending India’s Pakistan policy in an open, rules based forum. While Indian officials and commentators routinely engage in aggressive rhetoric through partisan media platforms, their representatives were unwilling to test those claims in a neutral and intellectually rigorous debate.
Pakistan remains committed to reasoned dialogue, responsible statecraft and peaceful dispute resolution. Pakistan’s delegation came prepared to argue its case on the strength of facts, international law and regional stability considerations. The unilateral withdrawal of the Indian delegation has transformed what should have been a serious exchange of ideas into a missed opportunity that raises further questions about India’s willingness to engage in good faith.
Clearly, none of this happened in good faith. The current president who is tied directly to the government in Pakistan lied repeatedly to the Indian debate delegation, apparently to create this outcome in which the Pakistani government would claim their opponents backed out because they lacked confidence.
This is yet another big embarrassment for the Oxford Union. It's time to hold another vote of no confidence in Moosa Harraj. This time they need to expel him.
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