KARACHI: Police on Saturday had to baton charge and lob teargas shells to disperse a group of students who allegedly pelted stones at the law enforcers when the latter tried to get the Islamia College – one of the oldest educational institutions of the city – vacated on a court order.

SHO Naveed Soomro of the Jamshed Quarters police station said that the college was said to have been established on a private property whose owners/trustees had moved Supreme Court to get its premises vacated. The officer claimed that the apex court had issued its order in favour of ‘decree-holders’ (private owners) and directed the Sindh High Court to get it vacated. He said the SHC eventually directed City Courts to ensure implementation of the SC order.

The SHO said that the police party along with the Nazir/bailiff, appointed by a city court, went to the college along with senior police and education department officials. While the bailiff was holding talks with the college principal, a group of enraged students started throwing stones at the police team present outside the college, he said. The police had to apply baton charge and “mild teargas shelling” to disperse them, he added.

Later, the officer said, the East SSP along with education secretary (colleges) Abdul Aleem Lashari and other officials, came and engaged the college administration in negotiations on vacating the premises.

Official version

Mr Lashari told Dawn that it was in 1957 that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) had provided about four-and-a-half acres of land to the Islamic Education Fund (IEF) on a rent basis to establish its colleges and schools. The IEF claims that it owns the land but the KMC asserts that it was not leased out to the organisation.

The matter, he added, was taken to the Supreme Court, which directed high court to decide its ownership.

He said that the KMC and other stakeholders also became ‘inter-pleaders’ in the case.

Mr Lashari said that the SHC had directed the provincial government to deposit the rent with its official assignee and as such the provincial government had been depositing Rs220,000 rent annually with the official assignee.

The secretary insisted that the case was still pending adjudication before the high court.

In the meantime, the IEF approached a lower court (City Courts) “by misrepresenting facts and obtained an order in its favour to get the property vacated”.

“Today, the lower court’s bailiff, along with a police party, went there to get the college premises vacated,” he said, adding that he [Mr Lashari] and the education officials also visited the college and informed the bailiff about “misrepresentation of facts” by the IEF. He said he argued that when the SHC had asked the government to deposit the rent with its official assignee, it meant that the decision was still pending.

Mr Lashari said that the bailiff and SSP Syed Abdul Rahim Shirazi, after examining the relevant documents, appeared satisfied that the issue of the property’s ownership was yet to be decided. Eventually, they left the premises, he added.

He said the property housed four colleges and four schools where over 7,000 students were studying.

Protesting student group’s claim

The Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT), the student wing of Jamaat-i-Islami, claimed that its five activists were picked up by police. However, the SHO said no one was picked up or arrested.

The IJT, in a statement, claimed that around 400 students were present on the premises when the police party tried to get the college vacated “under a conspiracy to build a shopping centre on its land”.

It demanded immediate release of the allegedly detained students.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2022