Moalims

Rawalpindi: Professors and Lecturers are up in arm to protest against the Punjab government decision to give historic Gordan Post Graduate College, Rawalpindi in the custody of Christian trust. The provincial Higher Education Department has started the homework to complete the formalities for the handover.

Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association has strongly opposed the provincial government move and announced a phase wise protest. It has threatened that in the first phase the lecturers would attend classes by wearing black bands and then boycott the classes. At the same time the lecturers would also refuse to perform duties for local government elections.

In the second phase in March, 2016, the teachers and students would stage sit ins.

According to informed sources, a delegation of Christian minority community along with an American NGO, met a prominent personality of the province and demanded the return of the Christian educational institutions, including Gordan college that were nationalized in 1972-73. During the meeting, they were assured that these institutions would be returned to them. A committee has been constituted for this purpose which would submit its recommendations to complete the process.

It is worth mentioning that the land for the Gordan School, which was later upgraded to college level in 1911, was donated by the elders of former Federal Minister Raja Shahid Zafar to English rulers.

Sources however said that before handing over the college to the Christian Trust, the government will have to get an Act passed by the Parliament.

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