ISLAMABAD - The hostel of F.G. College (Men) H-9 that was occupied by the COMSATS University since 2001 and was about to be vacated in August has been allotted to Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal (PBM).

Though the building has been allotted to the PBM to accommodate the orphan children but all has been done without consultation with the principal and the members of the teaching staff of the H-9 College who run the college affairs thus creating unrest among them and the students as they all were quite happy to get back the hostel building from the university and it was announced and published in the prospects by the college administration.
In the past, students of the college who couldn’t find place in the college hostel had been showing grave concern and agitated repeatedly. Most of the students in this oldest institution of the federal capital hail from FATA/FANA, Kashmir and all the four provinces of Pakistan. They are from poor background and cannot afford to live in private hostels, which charge heavily, and the atmosphere is also not suitable where young learners could be kept.
The hostel at H-9 college is the biggest of the hostels in other colleges of the federal metropolis with 70 seated rooms, one big dining hall and kitchen, a spacious common-cum TV room and the warden office offer excellent lodging facilities to the students of the college. Besides this, a big and spacious court adds in the majesty of the building.
“The students have been deprived of this facility which is no less than snatching their right to get education. They are compelled to live in private hostels where they pay heavy sums for a terrible living,” opined a professor of the college. In these private hostels, people from different backgrounds and different age groups and unveiled identity live. So these young students live among these people where there is no atmosphere congenial to learning and healthy living. Another senior official on questioning said this is above the fair official routine that without considering needs of an institution, it is handed over to another institution to give irrecoverable loss to the institution and the nation as a whole. In the absence of lodging facilities, the students from FATA/FANA, Kashmir and Balochistan will feel disturbed and disappointed and this will slow the pace of literacy in these areas, and ultimately promote terrorism through illiteracy.
Prof. Tahir Mahmood, General Secretary, Federal Government College Teachers Association (FGCTA), informed that the office bearers of FGCTA met Ministry of CAD Secretary on Thursday and requested him to resolve the hostel issue.
The Secretary demanded a written complaint on this issue, which would be sent to him on Friday. FGCTA being a representative body of the college teachers firmly believes that to safeguard the interest of the institutions including the students is a collective responsibility. So teachers will protect their students as well as the hostel building. However, PBM MD Zamurd Khan was of the view that the hostel was even not in use of the college before and was given to a private university. But now it has been allotted to the PBM for interim period to accommodate orphan children of Pakistan Sweet Home (PSH) whose right comes first.
“I had requested to the minister of Capital Administration and Development to allot the building for the 125 orphan children hailing from Northern Waziristan and Balochistan as the PBM has no other place to house them and other sweet homes are also being run on rented buildings.”
According to him, it’s a stopgap arrangement and as soon as they get their own building the children would be shifted there. He said the Capital Development
Authority has allotted a plat in Chak Shehzad for PSH Children but the building has to be constructed yet. Though, terms and conditions are yet to be finalized yet but the college would be paid rent and the children would study in the same institute, he added.
Joint Educational Advisor and Spokesperson of the Ministry Rafique Tahir when contacted said that the matter was not in his knowledge as he was in Quetta and he would only be able to comment anything after inquiring from the officials of administration department of the ministry.