Research is under way at the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) on the lives and achievements of the Pakistan’s freedom movement leaders, a press release issued on Sunday quoted the university’s chancellor ZA Nizami as saying.
Nizami was speaking as chief guest at a “Jauhar Day” function organised at the SSUET to commemorate the memory of the great freedom fighter, Maulana Muhammed Ali Jauhar. He said this work is going on in line with the traditions set by great educationist and reformer Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and in this regard, a lot of information on the mission and struggle waged by Maulana Muhammed Ali Jauhar and Maulana Shaukat Ali Jauhar has been collected.
Nizami pointed out that when he was director general of the then Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar area was named after Maulana Muhammed Ali Jauhar. Recalling the traditions set by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the chancellor informed the audience that Aligarh College had started with only few students and today it is a huge university complex.
Nizami said that some dedicated followers of Sir Syed had approached him (Sir Syed) to seek his consent to name the university after him. But Sir Syed refused saying that if people think that he has done something for the Muslims, they can set up an institution named after him after his death.
He said that it was after 96 years of the death of the great leader that this university was set up after his name. “Today, this university works in collaboration with 22 well-known universities in the US and the UK,” he added. “`We try to follow the same spirit that was maintained by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and the Quaid-e-Azam. In this context, SSUET is the only engineering university in Pakistan where Pakistan studies and Islamic studies are being taught as compulsory subjects as the university desired its students to qualify in these subjects.”
Nizami said this university observes the Jauhar Day every year and commemorates the days of other freedom movement leaders in the same manner. He referred to the speeches made by the students of the university on Maulana Muhammed Ali Jauhar and deeply complimented them for their knowledge and vision about the great leader. Earlier, Muhammed Umer Khan, Umer Ali, Muhammed Adnan Akhtar and Fatima Faiza Ahmed in their speeches shed light on the life, struggle and mission of Maulana Muhammed Ali Jauhar for the cause of freedom and emancipation of Muslims of South Asia.
