Pakistan has egg on face as Imperial College London busts Lahore campus claims

A few days after the Maryam Nawaz-led government in Pakistan's Punjab province announced plans to open a campus of Imperial College London at the Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore, the university denied the claim. It stated that it currently has no plans to establish a campus outside the UK. The claim of the Punjab government also drew criticism, with an Imperial College alumnus slamming it for the announcement.

The Punjab government on October 18 said the UK-based institution would open a campus in Lahore's IT City. The post on X also said that the foundation stone would be laid in November. The post also indicated that the campus would include a 300-bed hospital.

The announcement was also echoed by Punjab's senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, who made a similar statement in a separate post on X.

Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz also reposted the government's post.

However, Imperial College London swiftly refuted the claim. In an official correction published on Tuesday, the university stated that "reports that Imperial College London plans to open a campus overseas are incorrect".

"There have been erroneous reports in the media and online that Imperial is opening a campus at Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore, Pakistan," the UK-based university said in the statement.

The varsity also reaffirmed that "Imperial has no such plans, with all the university's campuses based in the UK".

For students seeking to enquire about the developments pertaining to the Imperial College of London, the institution said that it is necessary to check with its official statements.

CLAIM OF IMPERIAL COLLEGE IN LAHORE DREW CRITICISM FROM ALUMNUS

A former chairman of the Islamabad-based Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), Javed Hassan, who is also an alumnus of Imperial College, slammed Maryam Nawaz's government's false claim.

"As an Imperial alumnus, I was briefly bemused by the bold claim of a campus in Nawaz Sharif IT City. Turns out Imperial College is less adventurous — its campus plans remain firmly UK-bound. Verification, it seems, is still a novel concept," Hassan posted on X.

The broader context is that the Nawaz Sharif IT City spans 853 acres, was commercially inaugurated by Maryam Nawaz last year, and has been designated as tax-free for ten years, with the government claiming that several international tech firms intend to set up offices there, the Dawn reported.

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