QAU teachers, students urge govt to retrieve its land
Stage protest outside press club against encroachment
Stage protest outside press club against encroachment. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
With over 258 acres of its land encroached on by some influential land grabbers, current and former faculty and students of the country’s top university staged a protest in the federal capital on Wednesday.
Teachers and students of the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) in the federal capital, along with members of its Academic Staff Association (ASA) and alumni association, gathered outside the National Press Club on Wednesday to protest.
They held aloft banners and cards with slogans against the encroachment of varsity land inscribed on them. They urged the government to expand its ongoing, nationwide anti-encroachment drive to the top-ranked varsity of the country, located just a stone’s throw from the PM House and the Parliament.
Ankara-based agency ranks UoP among Pakistan’s top five
“We have to keep in mind the key role played by the Aligarh University and its students in creating Pakistan,” stated QAU faculty member Dr Shoaib who was participating in the protest.
“In order to progress, the country needs to promote its educated youth and varsities,” he said as he lamented that land for a varsity, named after the founder of the country, had been illegal grabbed and deformed.
“If we do not defend the number one university built in the name of our founder and fail to retrieve its land, then only God can save the country,” he stated.
On the other hand, QAU Legal Action Committee chairman Aziz Nishtar said that the government needs to retrieve the varsity’s land from the grip of illegal occupants on a priority basis.
“This university is not the property of any professor, staffer or student. It is a national heritage. Our university is just like our mother and we will continue to defend it until our last breath,” Nishtar said.
QAU faculty member Dr Humayun Kamran lamented that QAU was the only varsity which does not have any boundary wall around it. As a result, the varsity faces a number of security issues.
He further explained that a boundary wall around the varsity could not be built because the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has failed to hand over a 152-acre chunk of the varsity’s land.
QAU Alumni Association Secretary Dr Murtaza Noor said that they have started with peaceful protest campaigns against the illegal occupancy of the university’s land.
“We are initially holding a protest at the National Press Club, but if the government does not take any action against the perpetrators, then this protest will be held outside the Parliament House,” he said.
He further claimed that when Prime Minister Imran Khan launched his anti-encroachment drive, he should have started from the illegal structures and encroachment built on QAU’s land.
“We still demand the prime minister take action against the land mafia and retrieve our land,” Dr Noor said, adding that when the university was formed, 1,709 acres of land was reserved for it. While the CDA had been paid in full for the land, it has yet to receive all the land paid for.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2019.
With over 258 acres of its land encroached on by some influential land grabbers, current and former faculty and students of the country’s top university staged a protest in the federal capital on Wednesday.
Teachers and students of the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) in the federal capital, along with members of its Academic Staff Association (ASA) and alumni association, gathered outside the National Press Club on Wednesday to protest.
They held aloft banners and cards with slogans against the encroachment of varsity land inscribed on them. They urged the government to expand its ongoing, nationwide anti-encroachment drive to the top-ranked varsity of the country, located just a stone’s throw from the PM House and the Parliament.
Ankara-based agency ranks UoP among Pakistan’s top five
“We have to keep in mind the key role played by the Aligarh University and its students in creating Pakistan,” stated QAU faculty member Dr Shoaib who was participating in the protest.
“In order to progress, the country needs to promote its educated youth and varsities,” he said as he lamented that land for a varsity, named after the founder of the country, had been illegal grabbed and deformed.
“If we do not defend the number one university built in the name of our founder and fail to retrieve its land, then only God can save the country,” he stated.
On the other hand, QAU Legal Action Committee chairman Aziz Nishtar said that the government needs to retrieve the varsity’s land from the grip of illegal occupants on a priority basis.
“This university is not the property of any professor, staffer or student. It is a national heritage. Our university is just like our mother and we will continue to defend it until our last breath,” Nishtar said.
QAU faculty member Dr Humayun Kamran lamented that QAU was the only varsity which does not have any boundary wall around it. As a result, the varsity faces a number of security issues.
He further explained that a boundary wall around the varsity could not be built because the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has failed to hand over a 152-acre chunk of the varsity’s land.
QAU Alumni Association Secretary Dr Murtaza Noor said that they have started with peaceful protest campaigns against the illegal occupancy of the university’s land.
“We are initially holding a protest at the National Press Club, but if the government does not take any action against the perpetrators, then this protest will be held outside the Parliament House,” he said.
He further claimed that when Prime Minister Imran Khan launched his anti-encroachment drive, he should have started from the illegal structures and encroachment built on QAU’s land.
“We still demand the prime minister take action against the land mafia and retrieve our land,” Dr Noor said, adding that when the university was formed, 1,709 acres of land was reserved for it. While the CDA had been paid in full for the land, it has yet to receive all the land paid for.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2019.