RAWALPINDI, Jan 5: A land dispute between the Punjab government and a religious seminary is intensifying rapidly and the issue has been brought into the notice of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, it has been learnt.

The administrations of Jamia Farooqia Mehria and Government Pehlevi High School have locked horns over a piece of land, which both claim in totality.

The seminary administration claimed that the land, on which the government school had been constructed, was reserved for Jamia Farooqia in 1970.

Jamia Farooqia, a seminary where students are being taught religious and modern education simultaneously, has been criticising the Punjab government for grabbing the land instead of acquiring it through proper channel.

However, the Rawalpindi administration had refused to surrender the school to the religious seminary, prompting the students of Jamia Farooqia to display huge banners along Murree Road condemning the provincial government for snatching the Madressah land.

Jamia Farooqia administrator Raja Ashfaq Kiani told Dawn on Monday that his father donated fours kanals at Faizabad to the seminary in 1970s. He accused the Punjab government of constructing a school on the land without informing the real owners.

“A high school has been built on the land and a nominal number of students have been enrolled in order to strengthen the claim over the illegally occupied property. The authorities have no proof of ownership,” Mr Kiani said.

He vowed to recover the land from the Punjab government at any cost, saying local people would be asked to exert pressure on the authorities to demolish the school and surrender the site to the religious seminary.

Mr Kiani said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had been informed about the sensitive issue. He alleged that the district administration was trying to malign the mosque.

However, District Education Office Chaudhry Mohammed Saadat told this reporter that the land was owned by the Punjab government. He accused the custodians of Jamia Farooqia for constructing the seminary on government land.

Replying to a question, he said the government had the option to use force against the religious seminary for recovering the government land, adding that the seminary administration was instigating the people against the provincial authorities in the name of religion.