Haqqania seminary seeks university status

K-P Assembly speaker asks Maulana Hamidul Haq to devise a plan

PESHAWAR: Authorities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administration of Darul Uloom Haqqania on Friday discussed the possibility of granting university status to the seminary.

Located in Nowshera district, the seminary is currently run by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami chief Maulana Samiul Haq.



Sources told The Express Tribune  that the issue was discussed by K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Maulana Hamidul Haq — the administrator and son of Maulana Samiul Haq — during a meeting held at the assembly building.

“Both the modalities and programmes of the university will be discussed in the next meetings,” said an official present during the meeting. The speaker has asked the K-P higher education department to be present at the next meeting with all relevant records.

The official said K-P’s Higher Education Minister Mushtaq Ghani and secretary, who were not present during the meeting, have been asked to complete their side of the work before the next meeting.

“The speaker also asked Maulana Hamidul Haq to devise a comprehensive plan,” the official said, adding the K-P government would help the seminary get registered with the Higher Education Commission. “The decisions regarding curriculum, land acquisition and other requirements will be discussed later.”

Hamidul Haq, when contacted, told The Express Tribune  that a general discussion was held with the K-P Assembly speaker over the issue.



“We have been planning to upgrade the seminary to the university level like Darul Uloom Karachi but Haqqania will be a private university,” he said. “We visited the speaker to accelerate work on the grant announced by the K-P government for the Haqqania High School,” he said.

Haq added that the government had issued a tender for the construction of the school building that would cost Rs300 million and would be completed in two years.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2017.