Pak allocates 70 acres for Guru Nanak int’l varsity

Lahore, May 2

Pakistan’s Punjab province government has allocated 70 acres for setting up an international university named after Guru Nanak at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of the first Sikh Guru.

The funds for the construction of Baba Guru Nanak International University at Nankana Sahib, about some 80 km from Lahore, will be allocated in the 2019-20 budget, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said in a statement here on Thursday.

The CM said the project would be a part of the coming development budget in the province. He said the government would also establish a Police Lines, a prison and National Registration Database Authority (Nadra) at Nankana Sahib.

There has been a demand from the Sikhs living in Pakistan to construct a university named after the founder of their religion at his birthplace in Nankana Sahib. The proposal for the university first surfaced during the Punjab government of Pervaiz Elahi in 2003. Two years ago under the Pakistan Muslim League (N) government, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) gave the final approval to the project.

Then ETPB chairman Siddiqul Farooq said this university would help promote religious tourism in Pakistan and also portray the country’s good image at the international level.

Earlier this year, for the first time, a Pakistani university had created the Baba Guru Nanak research chair to promote the message of peace preached by the Sikh spiritual leader. — PTI