Al-Qadir was a trust only for eight months

ISLAMABAD: Al-Qadir Trust was a trust for only eight months until it became non-existent before the authorities, investigations by The News has revealed.

Interestingly, upon investigation, it came to light that Al-Qadir Trust had actually only two trustees, Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi. After the removal of Babar Awan and Zulfi Bukhari on the request of the then prime minister Imran Khan in 2021, Farhat Shehzadi (Farah Gogi) along with Dr Arif Nazir Butt were only nominated but never registered as trustees. 

It is also pertinent to mention here that the trust deed of Al-Qadir University Project made under Trust Act 1882 clearly stated that the trustees must not be less than four or more than five hundred.

In December 2019, Babar Awan registered Al-Qadir Trust in Sub Registrar Office, Islamabad. Meanwhile, a new act was formulated - ICT Trust Act 2020 - while the process of the registration of Al-Qadir Trust was going on following the previous Trust Act 1882. Now when the new act was established, it was mandatory for every trust along with Al-Qadir Trust to get itself registered under the new Trust Act of ICT.

However, a well-placed source told The News that in the official record of the Industries and Labour Department, Al-Qadir Trust finally submitted the application in 2023 after over two years of delay.

The source explained that Al-Qadir had yet failed in getting itself registered which means it does not exist as per the ICT Trust Act 2020. This means that Al-Qadir was registered as a trust for only 8 months until the new ICT Trust Act came into effect from August 26, 2020. The source further revealed that Al-Qadir University Project Trust which was registered as a trust in 2019 no longer exists as it has failed to register itself under the new Trust Act 2020 before the authorities.