{"id":237,"date":"2015-11-03T05:36:55","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T05:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morningpost.today\/eng\/?p=237"},"modified":"2015-11-03T05:36:55","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T05:36:55","slug":"demolition-of-jahanzeb-college-rejected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/demolition-of-jahanzeb-college-rejected\/","title":{"rendered":"Demolition of Jahanzeb College rejected"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Fazal Khaliq\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

MINGORA: Civil society and cultural activists have reached a consensus about not allowing the demolition of the historical building of Government Post Graduate Jahanzeb College, Saidu Sharif, over cracks caused by the Oct 26 earthquake.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They insist tremors caused repairable damage to the structure put up in 1951 during the Swat state times.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The building has not been used by the administration for classes since Oct 26.<\/p>\n

Currently, over 4,000 students are enrolled and 150 people employed in the college.<\/p>\n

The college with E-shaped building is the second oldest in the province after Islamia College.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Civil society and cultural activists say the iconic building is not a mere structure and instead, it tells the people especially visitors about local history, culture and civilisation.<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first college built in this entire region by visionary ruler Miangul Abdul Haq Jahanzeb, popularly known as Waali-i-Swat. It is unique not only for its historical importance but also for its structure and architecture,\u201d Usman Ulasyar, chairman of the Suvastu Arts and Culture Association, said, adding that the building had great value and charm in the region.<\/p>\n

Ulasyar said the historic building of Islamia College Peshawar was also declared dangerous in 2004 but it was restored and conserved afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertain forces are working behind the scenes to demolish Jehanzeb College and Wadudia Hall Swat. The earthquake might have caused minor damage to the building but that can be fixed. The building, part of the region\u2019s heritage, should be restored at all costs,\u201d local social activist and education campaigner Dr Jawad Iqbal said.<\/p>\n

He said heritage was a vital link to the region\u2019s cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational and economic legacies, which quite literally made the people who they\u2019re.<\/p>\n

Architect and culture activist Shaukat Ali Sharar said the Jehanzeb College\u2019s landmark building should not be demolished and rather it should be protected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are engineering solutions to cracks and the government should go for them to protect the historical building,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said ancient structures were given great importance throughout the world.<\/p>\n

People threatened to agitate against the college building demolition plan.<\/p>\n

Some even said they would initiate a \u2018worldwide\u2019 movement for the building\u2019s protection.<\/p>\n

Another social activist Amjad Ali said if the administration considered the college\u2019s main building to be weak, more storeys could be added to nearby stronger structures.<\/p>\n

When contacted, provincial minister Mahmood Khan said he would soon speak to the chief minister and relevant bureaucrats for the protection of the college building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will take up the matter with the chief minister for the rehabilitation and protection of the building, which we consider part of our heritage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he would speak to the top bosses of the culture and heritage department, too, on the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fazal Khaliq\u00a0 MINGORA: Civil society and cultural activists have reached a consensus about not allowing the demolition of the historical building of Government Post Graduate Jahanzeb College, Saidu Sharif, over cracks caused by the Oct 26 earthquake. They insist tremors caused repairable damage to the structure put up in 1951 during the Swat state […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[107,106],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morningpostnews.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}