Lust for influence damaging ICU alumni association

PESHAWAR: Vested interest or lust for influence is damaging the Senior Alumni Association of the historic Islamia College University, a body known for serving the students and alumni of the leading seat of learning of the province.

The association has broken into groups and each of them has made its own claims about its legitimacy and services. Mohammad Zaman aka Baba has been leading the association for the last four years. He is heading one of the groups of the association.

Baba has called the election of the association as his tenure has already ended and he was supposed to hold the election before December 2022.

Another group of the association, which is active under the title of Democrats Group, is headed by Khalid Ayub, a city businessman. This group has already claimed to have been elected unopposed as office-bearers of the association and announced the oath-taking on the same date.

As the controversy intensified, the university administration took notice of it and banned both groups, asking them to stay away from their respective plans.

The university formed a four-member committee consisting of senior professors to look into the matter and resolve it in an amicable manner. The committee was required to submit its report to the vice-chancellor.

Meanwhile, some of the members of the association moved court to stop the election announced by the Baba Zaman Group and the court granted them a stay on the election for seven days.

However, Baba was adamant to hold elections and he managed to do so despite the court orders and the college administration’s strict directives. The elections were arranged at a private hotel outside the university. Nearly 300 members turned up to take part in the polls and Baba bagged 260 ballots.

The total membership, according to the rival group, is 10,000, while Baba claims only 1,800 are the total members of the association. In both cases, the turnout was very low. Reminded by The News about the violation of the court order, he smiled and said they would see the court directives. He said the office-bearers are elected as per the constitution of the association and he has been elected.

He said it was an honour and respect. There was no need to quarrel over it. The other group should have also come and taken part in the election, he said and added that he enjoyed the trust of the members, which is why he was elected.

Khalid Ayub, on the other hand, said the so-called election was a mere drama and a violation of the orders of the honourable court.

He said the governor and chief minister of the province, who, too, were members of the association, should take notice of the situation and rid the body of the “usurpers” who, he alleged, have vested interest.

Khalid Ayub said the association was a respectable body and a senior alumnus above the age of 40 can become its member. The current strength of the association, according to him, was 10,000.

He said the college had commercial and agricultural land in Peshawar, Charsadda and Swabi districts. “The current office bearers of the association have benefitted from those properties in a clever manner. Also, they have “misused” the student scholarships”, he alleged.

Khalid Ayub said that they wanted an audit of the association’s financial matters first and then an election would be acceptable to them.

He put under question the membership of the body and said Baba has given membership to young and non-alumni. Baba, on the other hand, claimed that as per the constitution of the association, anyone who has spent one year on the campus could become a member of the association.

About the properties, he said that the association has nothing to do with the properties of the university. The matter pertains to the university administration, he said and added that the association had only two aims - serving the senior alumni and arranging scholarships for the poor students. “We beg for funds for the poor students. During the past four years, only Rs40,000 were collected,” he said.