Governor lays foundation stone for new SMIU campus

Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair on Monday laid the foundation stone of the Sindh Madressatul Islam University’s (SMIU) new campus in the Education City, Malir. The new campus is a part of the designated site for the Education City established by the Sindh government.

On the occasion, the governor said he was proud to have visited the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and unveiled the foundation stone for the new campus of an institution, which was alma mater of the founder of the nation, the same day.

“It is indeed a great honour for me to be in this ceremony when the Sindh Madressatul Islam University is beginning construction of its new campus. It is one huge occasion that the prime minister is presiding over a function for another mega project of the Islamia College University and I am here on his behalf,” he said.

“They are the two of the three institutions to which Quaid-e-Azam had bequeathed one third of his properties through his last will,” said the governor. About the establishment of the varsity’s new campus, he said it was the first campus of a public university where the foundation stone for a new campus had been placed in the Education City. He said it was good that every political party in the office chipped in for making the Quaid’s alma mater a great place of learning.

“I am here to assist to the SMIU administration in completing this project well in time.” Recently, the governor said, he had visited the Lincoln’s Inn in UK where a bust of the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was inaugurated and placed in the 15th century educational institution, which was a great honour for all Pakistanis and one satisfying reason to be proud of.

He said the people of Pakistan should know in-depth about the Father of the Nation. “He was the best lawyer in the Commonwealth in 1915 when he had not entered his forties; and was the best politician who would lead debates in the assemblies. He was nobody when he returned home from the Lincoln’s Inn but turned the best lawyer in town when he was just 25,” said the governor.

“The Quaid was so popular that he hardly needed electioneering to win elections.” He urged the provinces to spend more on education since they would get more funds from the Centre.

Earlier, Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh, the vice chancellor of the SMIU, said the occasion was highly important; and it was the only second such occasion with equal significance in 130 years. He said Viceroy of British India Lord Dufferin inaugurated the Sindh Madressatul Islam’s historical Main Building on November 14, 1887.

Shaikh said the day for the foundation stone was selected as December 25 which was the birthday of the institution’s most illustrious alumni. “Quaid-e-Azam spent four-and-half years of his life, from 1887 to 1892, in SMI, which was the maximum period he spent in an educational institution,” said Dr Shaikh.

'Pakistan can emulate China'

Karachi University Vice Chancellor Prof Ajmal Khan has said that Pakistan can emulate China and join the community of developed nations.

He was speaking at the concluding ceremony of the four-day Dr AQ Khan Winter School workshop on ‘Modern Tools & Techniques in Health & Disease’. The third edition of the training workshop was organised by the Dr AQ Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE), KU.

Within a short span of time, he said, through its efforts China turned around its fate and now 80 percent of its population lived above the poverty line. “It is the aim of science to improve the quality of life of the people and help the society grow in modern times to meet the challenges of the day.” Prof Ajmal Khan said he had confidence in the immense wealth of intellectual talent and capability of the youths of Pakistan. “It is not the juggling of numbers or manipulation of data by some organisations to project these among the top universities of the world.”

Prof Ajmal Khan said the KIBGE was one of the better institutes and he was jubilant to see it providing quality training not only to its research students but also opening its doors to other researchers and faculty of the university and other institutes of the country.

“This is imminent from the fact that the KIBGE is regularly organising training workshops.” The vice chancellor said he was delighted to see participation of universities from other parts of Sindh.

KIBGE Director General Prof Abid Azhar said the KIBGE had been organising this training annually and it was the third activity of its kind. “It is an endeavour of the KIBGE to train not only its students and researchers but to others who are involved in this area of research.”

To ensure optimal impact, Dr Azhar added, it was important not only to promote the development of new technologies to address current and future health issues, but also to make sure that the full potential of these new technologies was appropriately integrated in human health improvement. “The human health sector has the opportunity, not only to be a part of this technological revolution, but also to guide the appropriate application of these rapid advances in genetic engineering and computational biology.”

Those who attended the training workshop included Dr Abdul Hameed and Dr Muhammad Ismail from the IBGE (KRL), Islamabad, Prof Shamshad Zarina, director of the National Centre for Proteomics and Bioinformatics and former Chairperson of the Department of Biochemistry, and senior molecular biologist Prof Muhammad Ishaq.