The alumni of Quaid-I-Azam University (QAU) has shown serious concerns on ignoring concerns of QAU faculty, alumni and other stakeholders on Bara Kahu Bypass Project which has been started on QAU land and it will split the university’s land into two non-communicating parts.
The core committee of QAU Alumni Association, in its emergent meeting reviewed the situation. In the light of continued contacts and discussions with President Academic Staff Association (ASA) QAU, it was pointed out that QAU, being a prestigious higher education institution of Pakistan, has been ranked continuously among the top 500 higher education institutions by Times Higher Education (THE) and other reputed global ranking agencies.
But, instead of declaring its flagship institution through provision of required financial resources and resolving long pending land encroachment issues, its precious land is being further possessed for a new project without addressing the reservations of the concerned stakeholders. The core committee decided that like the previous occasions, the alumni would protect the precious land of the alma mater in close coordination with all the stakeholders including ASA QAU and no compromise would be made in this regard.
They fully supported the legal stance of QAU faculty at Islamabad High Court (IHC) and vowed to play an effective and an important role to protect legitimate interests and land of their alma mater. They said that in 1967, 1709 acres of land was allotted to the university but so far, an estimated 450 acres of precious land has not been completely handed over to the university due to illegal encroachments. Instead of addressing the decades- long pending issues of demarcation of QAU land, landing over complete 1709 acres, completion of QAU boundary wall and end of illegal encroachments, another project was started by Capital Development Authority (CDA) without addressing the serious concerns of the stakeholders and without obtaining NOC by Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA).
They demanded the Prime Minister of Pakistan to review the decision and the route of the bypass should be changed by protecting QAU land. The alumni, across the globe, would continue to raise their voice to protect prestigious and top ranked federal higher education institutions and will monitor the situation closely. They hoped the federal government and concerned institutions would immediately address the genuine concerns raised by the stakeholders of Quaid-I-Azam University Islamabad.
