ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition of the Pak-Turk Education Foundation (PTEF) seeking review of the Dec 13, 2018 judgement in which the court had ordered handover of its schools and other assets to the Turkiye Maarif Foundation by holding the Pak-Turk International Cag Education Foundation (PTICEF), the parent organisation of the PTEF, a terrorist outfit.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed dismissed the PTEF petition for not being maintainable and on the grounds that the Turkish government had declared the foundation a terrorist organisation.

In its review petition, the PTEF had argued that as a sovereign state with long-standing relationship of friendship and brotherhood with the Turkish people, Pakistan ought not to become a battleground for settling domestic political scores of the Turkish government with its political rivals.

“In this backdrop it is essential to err on the side of caution and not slap PTEF with the label of terror thereby implicating and stigmatising the Pakistani citizens who have committed themselves to serving the cause of education under the banner of Pak-Turk Schools and Colleges,” the petition had stated.

In its order of Dec 13, 2018, the Supreme Court had held that the citizens of Pakistan had the right to security of person and the right to education in lawfully set up educational institutions in addition to the right to and interest in enforcement of laws to ensure that no terrorist organisation or any entity having links or nexus with terrorist organisations was allowed to operate in the country.

The PTICEF was established in 1999 after a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Pakistan government through the Economic Affairs Division and the foundation. The aim and objective of the PTICEF is imparting quality education to Pakistani students at low cost. Some resources were to be contributed by the government, including land for school buildings in different cities.

As many as 28 schools were established under this arrangement.

The judgement noted that in 1999 the PTICEF was recognised under the Turkish law and enjoyed support, backing and guardianship of the Turkish government, but in July 2016, the parent organisation of the PTICEF namely Cag Educational Corporation (CEC) was found to be engaged in subversive activities in Turkey. Later, it was found that the CEC was an entity owned and directly controlled by an organisation involved in an unsuccessful attempted military coup to overthrow the democratically elected government of Turkey.

As a result of popular resistance, the coup did not succeed.

Subsequent investigations established the direct link and nexus of the CEC with the PTICEF, which set up schools in Pakistan.

The Turkiye Maarif Foundation was established by the Turkish parliament in 2016 as the sole Turkish entity authorized to provide educational services abroad.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2019