Shafaqna Pakistan: A 200-year-old historic building at Committee Chowk on Murree Road, located opposite the shrine of Talian Shah, has been vacated by the education department after more than six decades, reviving speculation about a major commercial redevelopment project allegedly linked to a powerful political group in Rawalpindi.
According to reports, all seven offices of the District Education Authority (DEA) and District Education Officers have been relocated from the centrally situated building to a new Education Complex at Madrassa Millia Islamia in Satellite Town, a move critics say has made public access significantly more difficult.
The relocation has effectively opened the door to long-discussed plans to develop the prime land—estimated to be worth around Rs100 billion—into commercial plazas, hotels, and multi-storey structures. However, the office of the Director of Education Colleges still remains in the historic building, though officials reportedly fear it may also be shifted in the near future.
The double-storey building, regarded as a rare blend of European and Mughal architecture, was originally constructed nearly two centuries ago by a wealthy Hindu businessman in the name of his wife as an orphanage, dharamshala and shelter home.
Over the decades, the building has served several purposes. Around 1950, it briefly housed Holy Family Hospital, while for a short period it also functioned as Rawalpindi’s jail.
Between 1930 and 1947, royal and British guests arriving from Bombay and Delhi were accommodated there, and it later operated as a government rest house for nearly two decades before education department offices were shifted there in 1960.
Education department officials maintain that the property had been legally purchased from the Evacuee Trust Property Board and claim to possess bank receipts proving payment. However, since 2024, the Evacuee Trust Property Board has asserted ownership of the site and began issuing eviction notices to education department offices and colleges.
Source: Express Tribune
