Guru Nanak Khalsa College/Government Post Graduate Islamia College, Gujranwala

Guru Nanak Khalsa College/Government Post Graduate Islamia College Gujranwala is a historical educational institution which has been lighting the lamp of knowledge from its foundation till date. Guru Nanak Khalsa College was founded in 1917 but before that it underwent an evolutionary journey which started with the formation of Khalsa Committee in 1889. In 1912, prominent and influential Sikhs of Gujranwala came under the same Khalsa Committee or Khalsa Educational Council established a school in the town. It was founded by Sir Louis Dean, the 13th Governor of United Punjab. Guru Nanak Khalsa High School came into being with the donations of Sikhs from all over the Punjab. Only five years later, in 1917, the school was given the status of a college and was renamed as Guru Nanak Khalsa College. The foundation stone of the college building was laid by Sant Attar Singh, a well-known Sikh reformer. In 1918, the college was affiliated to the Punjab University, Lahore. The new college building was completed in 1920 when Harvard Law graduate Sant Teja Singh became its principal. He bought 176 kanals of additional land for the expansion of the college, which now has a gurdwara and a boarding house for 200 students. Guru Nanak Khalsa College witnessed a period of turmoil when the independence movement intensified in the region It became the center of politics when Lala Lajpat Rai and, according to some reports, Gandhi visited Gujranwala and urged the people to join his non-cooperation movement. Lala Lajpat Rai was instrumental in persuading Punjab's private schools and colleges to disqualify them from government institutions such as the Punjab University. After the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at the hands of the British on April 13, 1919, martial law with section 144 was enforced in several cities in the Punjab, including Gujranwala. Satish Chandra Mittal in his book Movement and Reaction in Punjab writes: "Gujranwala was bombed and machine gun fired from the air. Major Carbury dropped the bomb on Khalsa High School and two villages, Gurjakh and Dhule, without knowing the reason for the gathering. However, the college rejoined the Punjab University. During this period, Prof. Sher Singh served as the Principal, after which Prof. Harkarshan Singh became the Principal of the College. Due to the large number of Muslim students in the 1920s, Persian, Urdu and Arabic subjects were introduced in the college. After the migration of Sikhs from the region during the Partition, Guru Nanak Khalsa College was handed over to Anjuman-e-Islamia Gujranwala in November 1947 and Guru Nanak Khalsa College was renamed Islamia College Gujranwala. In those days, Sufi Jamalullah was the president of Anjuman-e-Islamia and became the administrator of the college. Islamia College was nationalized in 1972 and renamed as Post Graduate Islamia College Gujranwala. However, during the tumultuous division, it lost its 78 kanals of land to the Occupying group, which the college has not been able to get back to date. After emigrating to India, the Khalsa Education Council kept alive the name and memory of Guru Nanak Khalsa College Gujranwala and established a college of the same name in 1953 Gujranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Ludhiana. Government Postgraduate Islamia College currently has 4,000 students. Its alumni include poet Mukhtar Siddiqui, Altaf Gohar, historian Dr. Karpal Singh and former President of Pakistan Muhammad Rafiq Tarar. Written and researched by Salman Qamar, Gujranwala.