Senate Told £190m Being Spent on Daanish University
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah has informed the Senate that £190 million transferred from the Supreme Court is being spent on the Daanish University project in Islamabad.
Sanaullah gave the information on Thursday while replying to a point raised by Senator Saifullah Abro. He said the Daanish Schools initiative had been launched in Punjab with donor funding and was now also being extended to Bahawalpur.
He said the schools provided quality education to underprivileged and orphaned children, adding that their graduates had gone on to become doctors and engineers. According to the APP account of the same Senate sitting, Sanaullah added that graduates had also pursued studies at universities around the world.
Answering the corruption question
The Senate exchange also touched on allegations of corruption. Responding to the point raised, Sanaullah asked Senator Abro to share any verified information, assuring the House that the government would examine the matter and take strict action if any wrongdoing was established.
He also spoke about Nadeem Mehboob, saying he had known him for 15 to 20 years and considered him an honest person.
That part of the exchange matters because the £190 million figure is one of the most contested sums in recent Pakistani politics, so every fresh statement about how it is being spent is read closely by both sides of the political divide.
Where the £190 million came from
The money at the centre of the project was recovered by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency and returned to Pakistan. It was then held in the Supreme Court’s account before being transferred to the federal government. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked the chief justice for facilitating that transfer when the university plan was announced.
The government decided to use the amount, worth about Rs60 billion, to establish the Daanish University of Applied and Emerging Sciences in Islamabad. The prime minister laid the foundation stone in March 2025. Land for the university has been selected in Sector H-16 in Islamabad, and the institution is to operate under the Daanish Trust, a structure designed to ensure financial independence and limit direct government interference.
The prime minister is the patron of the university. A search committee was directed to be formed for the appointment of a vice-chancellor, along with a committee for nominating the board of trustees. Officials have said the university’s first section was expected to become operational by August 2026, with admissions planned for the same year.
The funds are linked to a wider controversy. The amount relates to the case in which PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced over the Al-Qadir Trust matter, concerning the adjustment of £190 million in assets of a property tycoon seized by the UK agency. That history is why every fresh statement about the money, including Thursday’s Senate answer, is read closely by both sides of the political divide.
What Daanish is meant to do
The Daanish model began in Punjab, where Shehbaz Sharif, as chief minister, opened Daanish Schools for gifted children from underprivileged areas whose parents could not afford schooling. The initiative later expanded to Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The schools were built on a simple idea: talent is spread evenly across income groups, but opportunity is not. A child from a poor household who passes a competitive entry process gets boarding, teaching and facilities that would otherwise be out of reach.
The university extends the same idea to higher education. It is planned as a modern institution focused on applied and emerging sciences, including artificial intelligence and technology. A legal framework is being developed along modern lines, and an endowment fund has been discussed to support talented students facing financial difficulties.
For students who cannot afford private university fees, that structure matters more than the building. A university run under an independent trust, with an endowment for needy students, offers a route into high-value fields that would otherwise depend on family income.
The Bahawalpur extension
Sanaullah also told the Senate that the Daanish Schools initiative, launched in Punjab with donor funding, was now being extended to Bahawalpur. That extension takes the model into southern Punjab, a region where access to quality schooling remains uneven.
What happens next
The immediate question from the Senate sitting is whether Senator Abro, or any other member, brings forward verified material on the corruption allegations raised. Sanaullah’s assurance was conditional: examine the matter and act if wrongdoing is established.
