Confusion prevails: Hundreds protest against Gordon College’s proposed denationalisation

Mission wins case to get back the college which was nationalised in 1973

RAWALPINDI: Hundreds of students and teachers of Government Gordon College Rawalpindi on Saturday took to the streets to protest against what they claim is the Punjab government’s proposed plan to privatise the college. 

Protesters demanded that the provincial government drop the privatisation plan, and also attempted to disrupt the Metro Bus Service at Committee Chowk.

Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) President Liaqat Abbasi said the Punjab government had formed a four-member committee to chalk out a plan to hand over the college to US-based Sialkot Mission of Presbyterian Church. He said the mission had been claiming ownership of the college since the institute was nationalised in 1973.

Abbasi said the mission filed a case against the Punjab government to get back the college and won the case. He, however, said that the college administration did not pursue the case in the district and sessions court. He said an appeal against the case is pending before the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench.

The PPLA president said that the provincial government committee comprises of the provincial education minister, minister for minorities, minister of law and secretary of the Punjab higher education department.

Abbasi claimed that the government had taken a decision to de-nationalise the college and that the committee had been tasked to chalk out a plan in this regard. He said they would expand the protest if the government did not drop the proposal.

He said if de-nationalised, tuition fees would be increased, meaning that low-income families would not be able to afford the potential fee increase.

‘No de-nationalisation programme’

Rawalpindi Director Colleges Professor Humayun Iqbal, however, told The Express Tribune that the Punjab government had no such plan to de-nationalise the college. He said he would meet students and teachers on Monday to allay their fears and apprehensions.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2015.