March 6, 2005

Located in the heart of Karachi, the Sindh Madressatul Islam is looking to get its buildings back. These were taken away from it in the name of nationalization

SINDH Madressatul Islam is one of the most prestigious institutions of Pakistan. It was established during the British Raj, on September 1, 1885 by a group of social thinkers and committed persons from Sindh; they were led by Hassanally Effendi.

It played a pivotal role in the introduction of modern education in Sindh and subsequently introduced, high ranking leaders in all areas of the society. One of them was Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah who received his early education from Sindh Madressah, for almost four and half years.

Sindh Madressah was established as a boarding school. Its complex comprised of a main building (built in 1897), four boarding houses (Talpur House (1901), Hassanally House (1909), Khairpur House (1912) and Sardar House (1919), two mosques, one for Sunni sect, built in 1893 and other one for Shia sect, built in 1894, the Principal’s Bungalow, Sanatorium and some residential quarters for washmen and sweepers etc.

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was admitted to the Sindh Madressah in 1887 and remained there till 1892. However, he never forgot his mother institute, especially in his later days of political bloom. When a college was added to it on July 21, 1943, the Quaid inaugurated it; he was then the President of the All India Muslim League. The name of the college was Sindh Madressah College (S.M. College), not Sindh Muslim College (S.M. College) as the administration of the S.M. Science College today wrongly quotes it.

This college was a part of Sindh Madressah and was housed in Talpur House.

In the beginning it was an arts college. The science section was added to it in 1946 that was housed in the Sardar House. In 1953, the arts section was shifted to the annexe of the D.J. Science College.

In 1953, the science section was shifted to the Talpur House and the following year classes commenced in the rest of the boarding houses, Hassanally House, Khairpur House and Sardar House. The degree classes of B.Sc. and B.Com were added in 1957.

At that time, Sindh Madressah and Sindh Madressah College (S.M. College) were under the control of the Sindh Madressah Board. Other than this, the Sindh Madressah Board had established a chain of educational institutions in the city, like Sindh Muslim Law College, S.M.B. Lyari High School, S.M.B. Fatima Jinnah High School, S.M. Arts College, Fatima Jinnah Girls College and a hostel, Jinnah Courts (built in 1933). It seems that the Sindh Madressah Board was the only private organization of the city that had established a large number of educational institutions. Then came the 70s.

In 1972, the federal government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in pursuance of its policy of nationalization, nationalized Sindh Madressah. At first, Sindh Madressah was given under the control of the Sindh Government, but in 1974, the federal government considering it as a national heritage, being the alma mater of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other big personalities of national calibre, took control of it and gave to the federal education ministry. At the same time, the S.M. Science College remained under the control of the Sindh Government.

From this point on, the administrative set-up of Sindh Madressah and the S.M. Science College changed and two administrations started to work within one boundary.

The S.M. Science College is situated in the three boarding houses of Sindh Madressah and at the time of nationalization these two institutions were working under the same administrative body, either it was Sindh Madressah Board or Sindh Government. Due to that, no problem or any question of the ownership or unified administrative control arose. But in 1974, when the Sindh Madressah went into the administrative control of the federal government and S.M. Science College remained under the administrative control of the Sindh government, the question of ownership surfaced.

Muhammad Ali Shaikh, the principal of Sindh Madressatul Islam says that Sindh Madressah has repeatedly demanded from the Sindh Government for handing over of its three boarding houses — Hassanally House, Khairpur House and Sardar House, are currently under occupation of S.M. Science College. Various education ministers of Sindh, including Abdul Salam Thaheem, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, Irfanullah Marwat and now Dr Hamida Khuhro have been requested to shift the S.M. Science College to a building belonging to the Sindh government and the boarding houses in which S.M. Science college is housed, should be handed over to the alma mater of the Quaid, as these will be re-converted in boarding houses.

“They all promised to fulfil the demand of Sindh Madressah,” says Muhammad Ali Shaikh.

He hopes that Dr Hamida Khuhro will do the needful in this regard as her father Muhammad Ayub Khuhro was also an old student of Sindh Madressah.

Historically, Sindh Madressah exits on a piece of land that belongs to the Karachi Municipality. It is spread over eight and half acres. The municipality gave it to Sindh Madressah for its education purpose. Therefore, it is solely the property of Sindh Madressah, not of the S.M. Science College. So, no other institution can share its property.

Besides Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Sindh Maddressah has produced tens of hundreds of the man of mark, including Sir Abdullah Haroon, Muhammad Ayub Khuhro (father of the present the Sindh Education Minister), Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, Allama I.I. Kazi, Dr Umer Bin Muhammad Daudpota (he used to stay in one of the boarding houses which is now occupied by S.M. Science College), Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Mir Rasool Bakhsh Talpur, Jam Ghulam Qadir of Lasbella, A.K. Brohi, Hakim Muhammad Ahson, Kazi Fazalullah, Justice Tufail Ali Abdul Rehman, Kazi Khuda Bakhsh, Barrister Jan Muhammad Junejo, Allama Ali Khan Abro, Muhammad Hashim Gazdar, Miran Muhammad Shah, Justice (R) Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed and Hanif Muhammad etc. Most of them stayed in one of the boarding houses during their years in the school, which is now in the control of S.M. Science College.

In 1991, the then federal education minister, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, who was an old student of Sindh Madressah and was the former principal of S.M. Science College, decided to shift the college to another building, owned by the Sindh Government and give the boarding houses back to Sindh Madressah. But the decision could not be implemented.

Later on, all the federal as well provincial education ministers endorsed the request of Sindh Madressah and promised its administration the return of the boarding houses. Sindh Madressah even made plans to resurrect the boarding houses.

The Federal Education Minister Maj. General (R) Javed Ashraf Kazi, during his visit to Sindh Madressah on December 28, 2004, also talked on the issue and said that after getting possession of the boarding houses, children from the interior of Sindh will be invited to enrol here in the Sindh Madressah with the provision that they will be provided accommodation in the boarding houses.

The minister was of the opinion that the children, deprived of quality education, would get an opportunity to get modern education from Sindh Madressah. Therefore, the Ministry is very much interested in the revival of the previous role of Sindh Madressah.

It is true that in the flood of electronic media children of the country must be sent to the hostels/boarding houses, as they should receive quality education in a conducive academic atmosphere from dawn to dust. It has been observed that the parents have insufficient time to give their children. As a result, the children waste their precious time by watching different TV channels or using the Internet all the night long.

By keeping this fact in mind schools must be encouraged to have their own boarding houses where the young generation can get good learning and career building training by taking serious interest in academic activities and following a disciplined life under the supervision of the school management.

Sindh Madressah’s boarding houses will be more beneficial in this respect as these were in the past.

The principal Mr Muhammad Ali Shaikh has categorically stated that Sindh Madressah administration is never in favour of the closer of S.M. Science College, neither is it against the services of its employees. “We simply say that either the control of S.M. Science College should be handed over to its mother institute — Sindh Madressah or it should be shifted to any building owned by the Sindh Government, as it works under the Sindh Government and Sindh Madressah is a federal institute,” he clarified.

In fact, the issue is of the occupation of the boarding houses of Sindh Madressah, not of S.M. Science College. No one is against the very existence of S.M. Science College. The only demand is to vacate the three buildings, occupied by the college and it should be shifted in a building of the Sindh Government. These buildings historically and legally are of Sindh Madressah which must be returned to it.

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