Sindh govt in no mood to shift Islamia College

Trustee to make it a private institution, assures not to construct building

Karachi: The trustee of Islamia College has assured to keep the status of the institute intact, by changing it from a government to a private college only, while promising not to construct any multi-storey commercial building at the premises.

On the other hand, the Secretary of Sindh Colleges Education Abdul Aleem Lashari said that the land of the college was the property of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. He said that the Islamic Education Trust (IET) had claimed to have purchased the land on a 99-year lease, but it failed to produce documents.

It appears that the Sindh government does not want to shift the historic Islamia College to an alternative place but seems ready now to pay the rent to the trust after years of delays.

“The Sindh government wants to secure the future of 7,000 students studying here, and the government is going to deposit the required amount of rent with the court,” the Lashari asserted.

However, one of the members of the Islamic Education Trust and a lawyer Mureed Ali Shah, said that the Sindh government was given ample time to deposit the rent, but it failed every time. The court has now ordered the Sindh government to vacate the building.

The issue came to the limelight when the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the Sindh High Court to vacate the building on a petition filed by one of the trustees, Mureed Ali Shah, who is also the former Advocate General of Sindh.

Shah said that he had filed the first case on behalf of the trust in 2001. “Our contention is that the land belongs to the trust so the rent should be paid to it”.

The trust was established in 1947 by Shabbir Ahmed Usmani and Abdul Rehman Muhammad (AM) Qureshi to set up an educational institution for Muslim students.

After a political rift between A M Qureshi and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1972, the college was taken over by the government under the nationalisation policy. When it was denationalised, the trust demanded the government to pay rent for the building it occupied for years. However, the Sindh government kept lingering on the issue and never pay the rent.

According to Shah, “The trust went to the Sindh High Court in 2001 with a stance that the management, not the land of the college was nationalised. The court gave the verdict in favour of the trust, which was then challenged in the Supreme Court, which later upheld the decision of the SHC.”

In 2004, the trust filed a case for rent but it was granted the ejection order after the government failed to pay the rent. Shah said the government challenged the order in Supreme Court with a plea to pay the rent.

The Supreme Court, he said, gave the government time till August 31, 2020, to pay out the rent, vacate the building and shift the educational institution to an alternative place.

However, the Secretary of Colleges Education, Abdul Aleem Lashari, said that the dispute was between the KMC and the trust on the land which was owned by the KMC.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Teherek-e-Insaf criticised the PPP government for ruining education in the city by letting students suffer in both Islamia and DJ Science College.

PTI’s leader Arsalan Taj said that “the Sindh government should have taken timely decisions to avoid this situation”.

Ameer JI, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said that some black sheep in AM Qureshi’s family forged documents for monetary benefits, while the rest of his family members wanted to maintain the status of the college as per Qureshi’s aspirations.

He said that the PPP government did not defend the college properly. “The JI will continue to support the college against the evil conspiracy”, he vowed.

The Sindh government recently drew ire over establishing offices of a language authority inside the historic building of DJ Science College. The admissions in the college were also curtailed to make it look as if the college had lost its credibility long ago.

The Sindh Professors and Lecturers’ Association’s Central President Professor Munawar Abbas suggested the government establish such offices in the education colleges like in Federal B Area or in Jamia Millia, which were the colleges to train teachers. “The secretary of education agreed to our proposals and assured us to talk to the Education Minister,” Abbas added.

photos: athar khan/Bol News