SWABI, Dec 12: The Senior Alumni Association (SAA) and students and staff of Islamia College Peshawar have demanded that the authorities declare the residence of the college’s founder Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan and his mausoleum as national heritage.

They made the demand during a visit to Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan’s mausoleum on his 141st birthday on Monday. They placed floral wreaths on the mausoleum and offered fateha. Sahibzada Qayyum was born on Dec 12, 1864.

The president of SAA Islamabad chapter and Pakistan’s former ambassador to Afghanistan, Amir Usman, said that Sir Sahibzada enabled the people of the province to acquire modern education.

The rector of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Dr Abdullah Sadiq, who is also a member of SAA, said that television and radio should present special programmes on his birth and death anniversaries to highlight his achievements.

Other speakers said that in recognition of the services rendered by Sahibzada Qayyum, his residence and mausoleum should be declared as part of national heritage.