ISLAMABAD, July 26: Different groups at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) have locked horns over the management of an unlawfully established seminary on the premises of the hospital.
The seminary’s existence had hitherto remained secret because of the tacit support of the hospital’s management that quite frequently turned to its founder Qari Wahid for ‘spiritual healing’ until he died and different groups started flexing their muscles over the emerging succession controversy.
About 40 female students were studding in the seminary.
The central command of Jamia Hafsa was also taking keen interest in the affairs of the seminary and had offered its services for running the Madressah, Dawn has learnt reliably.One of the competing groups is led by the widow of the deceased cleric who wanted her brother-in-law to succeed her husband. The other is led by Dr Altaf, Joint Executive Director Pims, while Nazar Hayyat, Assistant Director Administration heads the third group.
Jamia Hafsa’s interest in establishing a base in the capital’s largest hospital is not new. Last year in June when the Lal Masjid issue was nearing its climax, vigilantes from Jamia Hafsa, supported by their male colleagues, had occupied the nursing hostel of the hospital but withdrew mysteriously.
Subsequent investigations on that occasion had revealed that the then management and students of the underground seminary within the hospital had provided the ‘strategic guidance’ to the intruders. However, the findings had to be brushed under the carpet after influential figures from amongst the doctors forced the hospital management to close the case fearing it could expose many hidden faces.
This time, the controversy began a couple of weeks back on the issue of appointment of a new cleric in the mosque after the death of its founder. The deceased worked as a cleric of the hospital mosque for over seven years and had in the process established the secret seminary.
He along with his wife ran the seminary behind closed doors and they were supported by high-ups of the hospital, a source in Pims seeking anonymity told this correspondent on Saturday.
“Having such institutionalised arrangements behind closed doors was not possible without support of some influential, which was very much there,” he said, adding “it was the same prop and influence that had kept the whole affair in secrecy.”
He said no information was accessible either about the seminary or the 40 female students living on the premises of the seminary. The presence of such an institution inside the boundary of the hospital was frightening and could lead to serious consequences, he added.
