LAHORE, Feb 3: Three candidates have been shortlisted for the post of principal of the National College of Arts, sources said on Saturday.

One of them will replace Sajida Vandal whose term will end in the middle of this month.

The sources said a total of 16 people — six from the college — were in the race for the post. The candidates from the college were Fauzia Qureshi, head of architecture department, Nazish Attaullah, senior professor from print making, Sajjad Kausar, senior professor of the architecture department, Murtaza Rizvi, registrar, Maqsood Pasha, senior professor of the architecture department and Zafar Iqbal, director of the international relations department.

Among outsiders, the sources said, the strong candidate for the slot is Jamal Shah, a well-known TV artiste and moving spirit behind a private art institution, Hunar Kada.

The candidates shortlisted for the slot are Fauzia Qureshi, Nazish Attaullah and Jamal Shah.

Sajida Vandal had first joined the NCA as principal in 1990. She remained principal till 1994. She joined again as principal in 1999 to date.

During her terms, she had introduced many new things and set up musicology, film and television departments, launched M Phill and PhD programmes in conservation, post graduate programme in cultural heritage management. She also had to her credit NCA’s Rawalpindi Campus.

The sources said that some senior NCA professors were of the view that Jamal Shah might not deliver, as he could not properly run his own private art institution, Hunar Kada.

When contacted, Jamal Shah said people who levelled such allegations should know that Hunar Kada was a non-profit institution and it was being run with limited resources.

He said he had been associated with the NCA, adding he knew what it was and what it should be.

Fauzia Qureshi said one should be good for the institution.

Nazish Attaullah offered no comments.