MULTAN, Aug 1: The local Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) director has been directed by the authorities to unfold the ‘mystery’ that how the Multan Institute of Textile Engineering was named after a living businessman.

Established in 1996 as Institute of Handloom Technology, it was a joint venture of the EPB and the All-Pakistan Bedsheet and Upholstery Manufacturers Association (APBUMA).

The EPB provided Rs34 million to the institute for the acquisition of land, construction of building and laboratories. In 1999, it was named as the Institute of Textile Engineering and allowed to hold classes in diploma in associate engineering.

Currently, the institute is offering studies in five disciplines — electronics, information technology, spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing. Apart from DAE classes, the institute also offers several other courses such as, ICS, I-Com, FSc and management sciences.

Sources said the management of the institute was running it on the savings from the EPB grant as it had not so far been in a profit earning position. Recently, its management had sought more funds from the EPB to set up an endowment fund to run the institute.

A board of trustees looks after the affairs of the institute. APBUMA former chairman Syed Qasim Shah currently heads the board. While his son Asim Shah is nowadays chairman of the APBUMA.

Recently, the institute has invited applications for admissions in its various disciplines through print media. However, the advertisement surprised the EPB authorities as the institute had been given the name ‘S.M. Qasim Institute of Textile Engineering’.

Insiders told this scribe that some APBUMA officials in a recent meeting of the board of trustees proposed to name the institute after the Syed. But, other members of the board, including Dr Wahab of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), strongly opposed the idea and consequently APBUMA proposal defeated.

When contacted, institute principal Sheikh Nazir expressed his ignorance that how the institute, funded through the national exchequer, had assumed the name after a private person, that too, in his life.