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Only 100 students enroll in Imran Khan's 'dream university'

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan 's dream university, Al-Qadir Institute, has not been recognised as a university. Al-Qadir Trust Institute has enrolled only 100 students after two years of its establishment in 2021, The News International reported.

Dr Amjadur Rehman , who is in-charge of Al-Qadir Institute, accepted that the institute had enrolled only 100 students.

Despite the institute being registered as a trust, the students have to pay fees. It was earlier reported that according to the agreement, all the expenses related to the Al-Qadir Trust are being undertaken by a businessman.

"In the first batch, we enrolled 40 students, and 60 more were enrolled in the second batch; 20 in Islamic Studies and 40 in Management Sciences," The News International quoted Dr Amjadur Rehman as saying.

In response to a question regarding the institute charging fees, Dr Amjadur Rehman said that only 10 per cent of the total students pay fees. He said that fees is charged in order to keep students motivated towards studies and make the institute independent from donations.

"Fees are charged so that students remain motivated towards studies and the institution itself becomes independent. Al-Qadir Institute wants independence from donations," The News International quoted Dr Amjadur Rehman as saying.

Speaking to The News International, Dr Arif Nazir Butt , one of the trustees of Al-Qadir Institute, said that the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) has not given degree-awarding status to Al-Qadir Institute and added that the process is in the final stage. Butt stressed that the institute continues to remain affiliated with the Government College University.

"The process is in its final stages and soon degree-awarding status will be granted to us," The News International quoted Dr Arif Nazir Butt as saying.

The top businessman had donated 458 kanals of land to Al-Qadir Institute which as per the stamp paper was worth Rs 244 million in 2019, The News International reported. The land was given to Zulfi Bukhari and later transferred to the Al-Qadir Trust Institute in 2021.

The agreement of the donated land was signed between Bushra Khan and the donor, while the-then Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was the chairman of Al-Qadir University. It is pertinent to note here that Imran Khan registered the Trust for Al-Qadir University Project on December 26, 2019.

The trust was registered within a few weeks of his cabinet decision regarding a housing society which later became the donor of the university. Before the registration of the trust, the cabinet led by Imran Khan at the time took up the matter regarding Accounts Freezing Orders (AFOs) and the repatriation of funds to Pakistan by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The NCA England closed the probe against the CEO of the housing society. About 140 million pounds were repatriated to Pakistan from the top businessman's accounts abroad. As per the news report, the money was transferred to SC's account in the National Bank of Pakistan.

The money transfer raised doubts about whether the amount was to be deposited to government accounts or in SC's accounts as the businessman had agreed to pay Rs 460 billion to the SCP.

From January 2021 to December 2021, the trust received donations of 180 million rupees, The News International reported. The total income of the trust was 101 million rupees between July 2020 to July 2021. However, the total expenditure including the salaries of employees was around Rupees 8.58 million only.

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