PESHAWAR: Holding aloft the torch of educating the denizens of Khyber Pakthunkhwa and Fata for over a century, Islamia College Peshawar (ICP), which saw the Independence Movement, had played a momentous role in completing the mission of Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah for creation of Pakistan.
Established in 1913,one travelling through the historic Jamrud Road can’t remain unimpressed while passing under the shadows of its tall beautiful domes, lush-green lawns and majestic edifice of the beautiful architecture.
It reminds the visitors of the glorious and matchless role of its students played during the Pakistan Movement led by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who created Pakistan in a short period of seven years after the passage of the historical Pakistan Resolution on March 23, 1940 at Lahore.
“Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had an immense love for people of Khyber Pakthunkhwa the then NWFP and fondness for this great institution and visited this college in 1936, 1945 and 1948 as the first Governor General of Pakistan,” said
Professor Dr Naushad Khan, Pro Vice Chancellor, Islamia College University.
“The people of KP had an immense love for Quaid e Azam which they reflected with their votes in July 1947 Referendum where PML had clinched landslide victory by securing over 200,000 votes and announced to become part of Pakistan,” he explained.
The love of Quaid- e- Azam, who became an honorary member of Khyber Union debating society of the college set up in 1936, can be judged from his `Will written on May 30, 1939 in Bombay in which he declared ICP, Muslim University Aligarh
and Sindh Madrassatul Islam, Karachi as among the inheritor of his property, Naushad said.
The Quaid Trust, later paid Rs10,811,600 in different instalments to the college and the amount was spent on the establishment of Quaid-e-Azam College of
Commerce, University of Peshawar, construction of Jinnah residential quarters for the college employees, Jinnah College for Women and the newly constructed Takbeer block.
The college, which is a beautiful combination of the Aligarh and Deoband School of Thoughts, is a mere testimony to the greatness of its Founder, Nawab Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan.
The idea to establish a college clicked in the minds of Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan, leader of Muslim League, and Sir George Roos-Keppel, the then Chief Commissioner NWFP in early 1909 when they met the Pathan students during their visit to the Muslim University Aligarh,” writes ex-principal ICP, Prof G.D. Khilji in his memoirs.
The students requested them either to construct Frontier hostel in Aligarh or a college may be built for them in frontier province. As a token the students raised
around sixty rupees and gave them to Roos Keppel to form a Frontier Hostel Fund or any other project, he added.
Keppel later passed the money on to Nawab Sahib.
It was April 12, 1911 when philanthropists Ghulam Haider Khan, Habibullah Khan, Khushal Khan, Sethi Karim Bakhsh and Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum gathered at the house of Abdul Karim Khan Indrabai in Peshawar.
Responding warmly to the call, Haji Karim Bakhsh Sethi offered to build a mosque while Rahim Shah Kakakhel promised to construct a hostel known as
Rahim Shah Ward. Abdul Karim Khan donated Rs.10,000, Sethi Karim Bakhsh Rs.50,000 and the Nawab of Dir promised Rs.100,000.
in establishment of ICP and offered towards the college fund. Later, a 10-member ad-hoc college committee under the chairmanship of Col.Muhammad Aslam Khan was setup on May 29, 1911 to table proposals for establishment of the college. Leading Khans and Ulema were invited and seven resolutions including one to title to college as ‘Darul-Ulum-i-Islamia Suba-i-Sarhad’ were unanimously passed, says Khilji.
A committee was also constituted to select suitable site for the college. The proposal to set up the college at Wazir Bagh was rejected by Ross Keppel to spare the place of recreation.
Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum in consultation with Ross Keppel selected the existing place for the college. It was a rugged tract intercepted by ancient mounds and
cut by water courses. The land chosen for the college was the property of Khalil tribe of Tehkal.
A total of 916 kanals and seventeen marlas were bought at Rs.30 per kanal.
The Islamia College was opened on October 1, 1913 with 26 students on roll. Sahibzada Khurshid was the first student who got admission and later become the Governor of NWFP. L. Tipping (1913-17) was its first Principal.
Professor Dr Zahoor Jan, Director Planning and Development and Chairman Computer Sciences Department ICP told APP that Rs1.4billion development projects under PM package for ICP have been approved by Higher Education Commission (HEC), Planning Commission of Pakistan and Centre Working Development Party (CDWP) and practical work would shortly start on it.
Under the PM package, he said practical work on eight gigantic projects including state of the art “OMICS Centre, being the first of its kind in Pakistan where biological related research works, DNA studies would be conducted, establishment of IT Innovation and Industrial Centre, Social Sciences bloc, hostel for foreign faculty members,, housing scheme for employees and professors, state of the art Sports Gymnasium, MA Jinnah Library and Community Welfare Centre etc would commence shortly at ICP.
Dr Zahoor Jan said Federal Government has already released Rs50 million for construction of the Community Centre, adding majority of these projects would be completed in three years while few would be completed in four years.
The college’s clock tower, which has now become the pride symbol of Peshawar, has for long figured on the back of Rs.1000 currency note.
The college which has completed 100 years of its grandeur and academic excellence in 2013 has also attained the status of a public sector university for quenching the thirst of education from kindergarten to doctorate level.
