A land grabbing mafia was behind attempts to take over Aisha Bawany College at Shara-e-Faisal. This was said by Karachi region Colleges Director Mohammad Mashooque on Saturday. The building of the college has been sealed by the college’s trustees.
The trust board had sealed the college building, leaving the education of over 3,000 students in limbo.
According to reports, the college is among the country’s oldest colleges which were nationalised by the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government. Most of the colleges were returned back to their trustees after Bhutto’s tenure, leading to a tussle between alleged trustees of some colleges, and the government, over who owns the property.
According to details, the trust board of the college had approached a city court over the matter of ownership, which ruled in its favour. The Sindh High Court (SHC), however, on the petition of college administration, issued a stay order on the sealing of the building. The petition was filed by the Sindh Advocate General’s office.
The Sindh attorney general told the high court that students were forced to study on the street outside the college following its closure and their parents were extremely distressed.
The SHC on Saturday set aside the lower court’s orders and ordered the immediate reopening of the college.
According to a private news channel, despite the SHC orders, the trust board’s employees reached the college and proceeded to knock down the building.
Mohammad Mashooque told the private news channel that it was, in fact, the land grabbing mafia which was “in the business of constructing marriage halls and high-rise buildings”, and trying to take over the college building.
“The original trustees of the college are no longer alive, it is the builder mafia,” he said, adding that the land is government’s property.
