KARACHI, March 22: Like other sister institutions, the Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre, University of Karachi, has announced that it will arrange events to mark 20 years of its establishment from March 24 to 26.

The SZIC, Karachi, was established with the financial support of the President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi, and handed over to the University of Karachi in 1985, while the recurring grants are available from the ministry of education. At present, about 200 students are enrolled in the institute for different academic programmes of Bachelor and Master levels. The centre is dedicated to promotion of Islamic studies.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, the Vice- Chancellor of the University of Karachi, Dr Zafar Saied Saify, said the decision to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the three centres — in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar — had been taken at a meeting in Abu Dhabi a few months ago. “The rulers and their coordinators for the three centres in Pakistan thought that the celebrations would provide an opportunity to review the working and get input from the experts in different Islamic disciplines for further understanding Islamic teachings and their applications in our lives.”

The Karachi centre would organize a seminar on “Islamic banking system”, in which noted scholars and professionals would present recommendations for a new banking system based on the Islamic principles and practices, which would also be sent to different Islamic countries, the vice-chancellor added.

The Secretary-General of the Islamic Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Aqeel Ahmed Al’Jassem, would be the chief guest at the seminar planned for March 25.

To a question, he said that grants for the centre had been decreasing for the last many years while the ministry of education had also hinted at making the centre self-reliant. “It is likely that universities, which are housing the centres in the three cities, would be asked to take over the administrative and financial control of these centres and introduce new programmes related to Islamic teachings.”

The newly-appointed director of the centre, Dr Khalilur Rehman, said the SZIS was an educational and research centre, where, in addition to Islamic studies, modern courses including computer science are taught to make the students compatible with new developments in the field of modern science and technology.

He said that on the first day a software exhibition would be organized, for which entry would be free while on March 25, a seminar would be organized and on the third day a quiz competition and prize distribution ceremony would be held.