Jinnah may have gone here, but now the mafia has landed

Nearly 70 per cent of Sheldon Secondary School has been encroached on by the land mafia.

KARACHI: Nearly 70 per cent of Sheldon Secondary School, believed to be the first school attended by Quaid-e-Azam, has been encroached on by the land mafia.

Located in Bolton Market, this 136-year-old institution was reputed to be one of the top schools of the city after Partition. Sixty-four years later, the building has been illegally occupied.

The vendors sitting at the main gate have left little space for the students and teachers to enter the building. They insisted, however, that they are paying for their stalls. “I pay Rs2,000 in rent to a man who belongs to the church. He collects the money every month,” claimed Hanif, who was selling plastic items.

The school canteen has been converted into a shopping mall and dozens of shops have cropped up around the building. The classrooms that are still working have rickety benches for furniture and the students and teachers have no access to drinking water.

Nevertheless, the administration remains committed to providing education. “Usually we hear loudspeaker announcements in which people ask us to evacuate the building because the property has been sold to someone else,” said headmaster Muhammad Bux Solangi. “This has created fear and anxiety among students and the teaching staff.”

On average, 1,000 students were enrolled but the total number of students has not gone beyond 200 in recent years.

Sheldon school is located a few metres away from Wazir Mansion, the birthplace of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The school still has a copy of its general register, which shows that Jinnah enrolled but was later admitted to Church Mission School and then Sindh Madressatul Islam.

Since its establishment in 1874, the school has been run by the Church of Pakistan. Records show that the plot was originally donated by the then governor of Sindh to the Diocese Trust Association, a property-holding body of the Christians at that time.

After nearly a century, in 1972, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto nationalised the school but since it held high property value, several attempts were made to denationalise it. In the 1990s, the plot was given to the brother-in-law of the then chief minister but due to efforts by the church, this attempt at denationalisation was also stopped, said officials.

Bishop Dr Ijaz Inayat Masih, who is the national coordinator of Church Property Bachao Tehrik, told The Express Tribune that they had approached the president, the governor and the education department to intervene and reject the denationalisation notification.

He said that they also wrote to the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) and the Capital City Police Officer against the encroachment in 2005. KBCA removed the shops but they were set up again. A large number of church plots have been encroached and the organisation has saved property of around Rs70 billion by fighting cases in court.

According to the headmaster, the incharge of the Diocese of Karachi Trust, Pakistan, Bishop Sadiq Daniel, claims that he is the owner now. MPA Saleem Khurshid Khokhar, who was elected on a reserved seat for Christians, also said that Bishop Daniel was trying to transfer this plot by changing the entries in the record of rights.

Khokhar told The Express Tribune that he will move a substantive motion in the coming session of Sindh Assembly and will take up the matter with the education minister. “I fail to understand why the bishop has given permission to the encroachers. We have to preserve this historical building where the father of the nation started his educational career.” Bishop Daniel was, however, not available for comment.

Interestingly, education department officials were unaware of the encroachment. “I did not even know there was a historical school in Kharadar area,” said Zubair Ahmed, schools additional secretary. He assured that he will take action against the culprits.

Writer Amar Jaleel recalled the time when he played against Sheldon School in the 1940s.

“I was studying in NJV School and our cricket team used to play with the Sheldon School team,” he said. In those days, Church Mission School, NJV School, Mama Parsi School, St Patrick’s High School and Sheldon Secondary School were among the top institutions. “I wonder how anyone can encroach the building of a historical school.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2011.