TAXILA: Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairman Siddiqul Farooq on Monday said the project concept for the Guru Nanak International University (GNIU) has been approved and development work will begin soon.

The university would be a centre for studies in Sikhism. Mr Farooq was talking to mediapersons at the Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal.

Officials from the Shrines Department were also present on the occasion. He said the university would be a centre for research and study on Sikhism and the founder of the Sikh religion Baba Guru Nanak.

Responding to a question, he said planning for developing Nankana Sahib as an international standard city and a centre of Sikhism had begun. He said 400 acres of Evacuee Trust Property Board land has been retrieved from illegal occupants while 300 structures built on the land have been demolished.

He said a project worth Rs50 million is being carried out at Gurdwara Punja Sahib to improve services for Sikh pilgrims and a Shamshaan Ghat, place for cremation of bodies, is also being built at Punja Sahib.

Responding to a question about the dispute over Nanakshahi calendar among Sikhs, he said: “Pakistani Sikhs wish to observe all the important holy days and festivals according to the calendar issued during 2004.”

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2015

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