wfn.org | Church reclaims historic college in Pakistan

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Note #7096 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

18-March-2002
02109

Church reclaims historic college in Pakistan

School nationalized 30 years ago is being returned to Presbyterians

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - Thirty years after it was nationalized by Pakistan's Islamic government, historic Forman Christian College (FCC) in Lahore is being returned to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and its partner churches in Pakistan.

Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD) officials called the return of the college to the church this spring - by an agreement with the government of Pakistan that was approved on March 18 by the executive committee of the General Assembly Council (GAC) - "a miracle."

The Rev. Will Browne, WMD's associate director for ecumenical partnerships, told the Presbyterian News Service (PNS): "It's hard to overestimate how important the recovery of Forman Christian College is to the Christian community in Pakistan - this is almost a survival issue for them. Having Forman back makes them positive players in Pakistan, rather than a tiny minority that's been pushed to the side."

Christians make up just 2 percent of Pakistan's population, and often are victims of discrimination in the overwhelmingly Islamic country.

The Rev. Les Sauer, WMD's area coordinator for South and Southeast Asia, hailed Forman's return as "a renewed opportunity for the Christian community in Pakistan to regain their status in their society and provide much-needed employment."

"Education has always been an important way of extending mission," he said, "and in Pakistan it has been about the only way, along with medical work."

The PC(USA) and its partners - the Church of Pakistan and the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan - have sought the return of Forman and a dozen other church schools in the country since they were nationalized in 1972. Their efforts have intensified in the past eight years, under the leadership of S. David Stoner, a former GAC executive director.

"Thirty years ago, when Forman was taken away, the Christians in Pakistan felt like the heart of their community had been ripped out," Stoner told the PNS. "What status they had in the community depended on Forman and the other schools, not to mention their (provision) of employment for Christians."

Stoner, who said with a laugh that he initially agreed to work on the FCC repatriation for two years, said the Pakistani government's agreement to give back Forman "reassures me that what we're doing is what God wants us to do at this time, and is not just happenstance."

A formal ceremony to mark the college's return to the church has been scheduled for Oct. 5, a date Stoner said was chosen so that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf - an FCC graduate - can participate.

A newly appointed 15-member board of governors for FCC includes representatives of the Church of Pakistan, the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan, the PC(USA), the Christian Education Endowment Trust (set up in 1969 in anticipation of the nationalizations to protect Presbyterian assets in Pakistan), the Presbyterian Education Board of Pakistan, and FCC faculty, staff and alumni.

The board has chosen as its president the Rev. Duncan Ferguson, a former associate director for higher education at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville; he is now in Pakistan. It has also hired as dean of academic affairs Christy Munir, a retired FCC chemistry professor, to begin the task of recruiting faculty members for the 4,000-student college.

"The thrust here is to create an American-style educational institution that focuses on critical thinking rather than on rote memorization, which is the traditional Pakistani model," Browne said.

Faculty and student recruitment were set back on March 17 when Munir was severely injured in a church bombing in Islamabad. He suffered a broken leg and shrapnel wounds, but is in stable condition and is expected to recover fully.

WMD officials estimate the long-term cost of resurrecting FCC at about $4 million, about $1 million of which will come from restricted funds in Louisville. The balance is expected to come from the Pakistan government, CEET, U.S. foreign aid and funds raised in a campaign to be led by Ferguson.

Stoner said he expects all 12 Christian schools and colleges in Pakistan to be recovered. Ten secondary schools already have been denationalized; the PC(USA) and its Pakistani partners now manage seven of them. When the recovery of FCC is completed, Stoner said, the PCUSA will be ready to take back the other Christian college in Pakistan - Gordon College, in Rawalpindi.

The Rev. Marian McClure, the WMD director, praised Pakistani Presbyterians for their commitment to the repatriation of the schools. "Given all the disappointments over the years, and the unsettled situation since Sept. 11, there is just an amazing commitment to this project by the Christian community in Pakistan," she said.

Veeda Javaid, executive secretary of the Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan, said the reclamation of the schools is essential if Christians are to have a future in Pakistan.

"I strongly request the PC(USA), our partner church, to please for the welfare of humanity in general and Christians in Pakistan in particular, to come forward and join hands with us," she said. "To inculcate Christian values and Christian witness through our education institutions has never been so much needed ... as it is today." 
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