Sarinjam Khan Wildlife Park inaugurated at AWKUM

Veteran Muslim Leaguer donates Rs10m for park, two scholarships

PESHAWAR: Veteran politician Sarinjam Khan on Saturday inaugurated a wildlife park at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM) for which he donated Rs10 million.

The park has been named Sarinjam Khan Wildlife Park to honour the diehard Muslim Leaguer from Mardan. The park has been set up in the university’s vast Garden Campus, and contains pheasants, the long-tailed game bird, and some other birds and also has a fish hatchery. Sarinjam Khan, who is fond of hunting, also gifted five pairs of pheasants to be kept at the park.

Sarinjam Khan, also referred to as Sarinjam Zamindar because he is a landlord, remained the secretary general of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for a number of years. Later he developed differences with Nawaz Sharif and became inactive. On becoming the Prime Minister for the third time, he invited Sarinjam Khan for a meeting in Islamabad and managed to remove his grievances.

According to Dr Ihsan Ali, the vice-chancellor of AWKUM, he was approached by Sarinjam Khan with the offer of a donation of Rs10 million for establishing a laboratory at the university. “I told him that we are setting up a wildlife park at the university and his donation could be used to complete this project. He readily agreed and we decided to name the park after him,” he told The News.

The elderly Sarinjam Khan was visibly moved when he inaugurated the park in presence of a large number of invitees and the AWKUM faculty and other employees. Many among those present on the occasion were PML-N activists who were giving company to their leader Sarinjam Khan. 

In his speech, Sarinjam Khan said he was impressed with the rapid expansion and achievements of AWKUM in its short life of seven years. “Mardan is the land of Yusufzai Pakhtuns and AWKUM is leading the campaign to educate and enlighten them. We have no shortage of talent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and all the needs of the province could be met if it was given its rights,” he maintained.

Dr Ihsan Ali narrated the many milestones that AWKUM had covered and he hoped it would continue on its path of success in the coming years.

PML-N local leader Abdul Subhan Khan also spoke on the occasion while Shiraz Paracha, head of the journalism department at the university, conducted the proceedings.

Sarinjam Khan’s donation of Rs10 million was the first time that a private donor gave money to AWKUM. He also announced two full-time scholarships for the university students.

Motivated by the generosity of Sarinjam Khan, a number of other notables present on the occasion also announced scholarships for students of AWKUM. Two scholarships each were announced by Sarinjam Khan’s son Tariq Khan and local PML-N leader Colonel (R) Sher Afgan Khan, and one each by lawyer Shah Bacha, former provincial minister Abdul Subhan Khan, Noor Feroz Khan from Gadoon who is son of former provincial minister Ghafoor Khan Jadoon, former lawmaker Rahim Khan Bacha of Charchur, Farmanuddin Bakhshali, and Shiraz Paracha who is member of the AWKUM faculty.

The AWKUM Vice-Chancellor Dr Ihsan Ali also announced the award of two scholarships from his own pocket.

Every scholarship would be worth Rs50,000 for the two semesters in a year. Some of the donors said they would pay the scholarships all their life and would be continued by their children.

A resolution was also passed on the occasion inviting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to pay a visit to AWKUM. Sarinjam Khan and his fellow Muslim Leaguers would extend the invitation to the Prime Minister to come to Mardan to formally inaugurate AWKUM and also announce development projects for Mardan division.