Legal land-grab: Students not allowed in playground, say police

Harass principal over issue; local courts have been using college premises.

ISLAMABAD:

Four armed police officials on Friday threatened and harassed the principal of Government Degree College for Boys Kallar Syedan in his office to stop students from using the college ground.

The college is situated on the 57 kanals, but half of the building and grounds have been “occupied” by Local Court and Revenue Department and the students cannot play in the ground because it is being used as a parking lot.

Friday was the last day of a three-day sports gala. While students were playing in the ground, a judicial magistrate, whose office is a few yards away, sent an official to tell the students to abandon the game as it was “creating trouble in court proceedings”.

They refused to pay heed and continued playing.

Meanwhile, four police officials entered the office of Principal Muhammad Saeed and ordered him to stop the games. “They had an insolent attitude, they threatened me, and then said they would register an FIR against me,” Saeed told The Express Tribune.



Saeed said it is a norm here to see prisoners vans parked in the playground and incidents of firing between prisoners and police officials have also occurred.

“We have informed Colleges Director Humayun Iqbal and others of the situation many times in the past, but to no avail,” said the principal.

Javed Mehmood, a retired former principal of the college who still teaches there, said officials of the tehsil and courts came to him with a letter from District Coordination Officer Hamid Ali Khan on July 11, 2004 and September 5, 2009 respectively to acquire the building.

“We allowed it at the time because we were not running Bachelors of Arts programmes back then, but it is a real problem for us now,” Mehmood said.

Usaf Malik, a lecturer at the college, said such harsh exchange with court officials have become routine. “Every second day, students are harassed and intimidated by court staffers for playing in the ground,” he said.

The Express Tribune tried to contact the colleges director for comment, but he did not reply.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2013.