Historic building reclaimed after 66 years

A decade-long dispute between the Education Department and the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) over 1 acre and 18 kanals of roadside land at Committee Chowk on Murree Road in the centre of the city has finally reached its conclusion, with the FIA vacating and sealing the "Schools Colleges Education Complex" after a major operation. Armed police and FIA personnel were deployed outside the building. After 66 years, the Education Department was removed from the complex, while furniture, valuable teachers' and professors' records and computers were also sealed. FIA personnel entered the complex at around 10am armed with guns, went into the office of the Grade-19 Director Colleges, Prof Dr Shehnaz Mohsin Sial, pointed guns at her and brought the female director out of her office in what appeared to be an arrest-style manner and onto Murree Road. Subsequently, the entire staff of the education complex was ordered to put their hands up and leave their offices, after which the whole complex was sealed. The female director quietly left the premises in tears. She conducted official affairs on the road for two hours and, after requesting the FIA sub-inspector, managed to have her car, which was parked inside the complex, brought out and then went to the district administration office. The district administration authorities refused to grant her time or provide any relief. The complex housed the Education Department's schools wing, the Literacy Department and the Directorate of Colleges, which have been permanently removed from the premises from Sept 17. The ETPB has won the case, while the FIA forcibly vacated the education offices and sealed the Schools and Colleges Directorate after six decades. The 1 kanal and 18 marla commercial land along Murree Road at Committee Chowk is said to be worth billions of rupees. Influential political and business groups of Rawalpindi will jointly construct a commercial plaza there, and the land will reportedly be obtained from the ETPB on a 99-year lease on easy terms. The building was constructed in 1860 by affluent and philanthropist Sikh businessman Sardar Hasrat Singh in memory of his philanthropist uncle.