Sikhs press govt on Guru Nanak University

Sikhs from across the world remind federal govt of its promise to establish a university of Sikh learning.

LAHORE: Sikhs from across the world have reminded the federal government of its promise to establish a university of Sikh learning in Nankana Sahib, four years after the promise was made.

Local and foreign Sikhs who are in Pakistan for the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Jee today (Sunday) said that they would press the government to set a deadline for the inauguration of Guru Nanak University.

On each of the last two Guru Nanak birthday ceremonies, Sikh pilgrims have heard Asif Hashmi, the chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), vow that the prime minister would lay the foundation stone for the university. That has still not happened.

“This time we will tell him [Hashmi] that if the government wants to win the hearts of Sikhs around the world, then he should announce the date for the ground-breaking ceremony,” said Sardar Swinder Singh Doblia, a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Perbandhak Committee (SGPC) who is in Pakistan for Guru Nanak’s birthday festival.

“Sikh sangats from the across the world have assured the government of Pakistan that the cost of the university will be borne by the Sikh community. I cannot understand why the process is lingering on like this,” said Sardar Bishon Singh, former president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Perbandhak Committee (PSGPC). According to ETPB documents concerning the university, on June 15, 2006, then prime minister Shaukat Aziz announced that the government would build Guru Nanak University. He was speaking at a seminar with representatives of Sikh groups from Pakistan, India, North America and Europe who were in Lahore for the 400th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev Jee.

The ETPB then allocated 360 acres for the university. In 2007 in another meeting with the Sikh leaders, the land allocation for the university was revised to 2,500 acres. But, say the documents, the government of Pakistan had done nothing significant to actually build the university.

Hashmi set up a project management unit for the university in December 2008 and appointed officials to work in it in 2009. The federal government approved Rs50 million for the project management unit budget, but has not yet approved Rs75 million for the feasibility study.

ETPB Additional Secretary Syed Zahid Hussain Bukhari said that construction work would start once the PC2 is approved, but he did not know when that would be.

Doblia told The Express Tribune that the SGPC had told the government last year that it had set aside a lot of money for the construction of the university.

Singh said that the university would initially offer courses in languages like Gurmukhi and the social sciences before starting natural science programmes.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2010.