ISLAMABAD: Sofia Saeed, 20, a resident of I-10/2 sector in Islamabad, is waiting for the opening of admissions to the Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), Rawalpindi.

In 2013, she passed her bachelor’s examination from the Islamabad College for Girls, F-6/2, and planned to pursue a master’s degree in English literature from the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI).

“My father did not like co-education that’s why he asked me to get admission to the IIUI.”

Sofia said she visited the IIUI to get admission forms but did not submit them.

“My family stopped me from getting admission to the IIUI due to security reasons. I was surprised why the university administration had failed to construct a boundary wall around the university even after the twin suicide attacks on the campus in October 2009 which left six people, including three students, dead.”

She said female students in Rawalpindi and Islamabad either can get admission to the IIUI or the FJWU if their families did not allow them to study in institutions that have co-education. “Now, I am waiting for the second option,” she added.

Batool Jafri, 17, a resident of sector F-8/2, wanted to get admission to BS Economics at the IIUI. “My friends told me that the IIUI had an exceptional faculty in Home Economics.”

But Batool said her mother advised her to get admission at the FJWU because she also had concerns about the security situation at the IIUI.

Maria Altaf, 21, a resident of Satellite Town, wanted to pursue a degree in MS communication studies.

She said the FJWU did not offer MS degrees in communication studies and the only option for her was to seek admission at the IIUI.

“I do not want to take any risk as I already lost one of my college friends in the 2009 suicide attacks at IIUI,” she said.

It may be recalled that after the 2009 attacks at the IIUI, the interior ministry directed the university management to construct a boundary wall around the university. However, so far the university has failed to the construct the boundary wall.

The IIUI campus spreads over 704 acres at Sector H-10. Around 23,000 male and female students, including 2,000 foreigners, are studying in different departments of the university. The university has the capacity to accommodate 30,000 students on its campuses.

After the 2009 terror incident, there has been a marked decrease in the number of admission seekers to the IIUI.

When contacted, director (academics) Shagufta Haroon told Dawn that the university received 22,000 applications for admissions in different departments in 2013 compared to around 30,000 before 2009,” she said.

IIUI Project Director Planning and Development Amir Ishtiaq said the university had submitted PC-1 of the boundary wall costing Rs60 million to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for approval in November 2009.

The HEC approved the project of Rs49.899 million in February 2010 and released the first payment in December 2012. “The management of the university started the construction of the wall in February 2013 and has completed 30 per cent work on the project,” he said.

He admitted that the university had failed to complete the boundary wall during the last four years.The head of the public relations department of the IIUI, Hairan Khattak, added that the university management would try to complete the remaining parts of the wall as soon as possible.

He said the university had already requested the district administration and the CDA to vacate the areas around the university from illegal residents. “The university management believes that these slums are constant threats to the students,” he added.

A resident of sector G-11/2, Mohammad Abdullah, 25, who lost her sister in the 2009 suicide attacks at the IIUI, said it was the negligence of the university administration that led to the loss of lives at the campus.

An official of the enforcement department of the CDA said it was the responsibility of the CDA to remove the illegal slums from different sectors of Islamabad.

“The officials of the CDA and the district administration are responsible for the presence of these slums in the federal capital,” the official alleged.

CDA spokesman Asim Khichi said the authority was planning action against illegal slums in the city.