The Batticaloa Campus initially known as Malik Abdulla University College named after king

Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (, ; 1 August 1924 – 23 January 2015) was King of Saudi Arabia, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1 August 2005 until his death in 2015. Prior to his accession, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia si ...

is a proposed

private university Private universities and private colleges are higher education institutions not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. However, they often receive tax breaks, public student loans, and government grants. Depending on the count ...

under construction in

Batticaloa Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The establishment of the university came under media attention following the Easter Sunday bombings carried out by Islamist terrorist group

National Thowheeth Jama'ath National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ; ; ''Jamā‘at at-Tawḥīd al-Waṭanīyah'', "National Monotheism Organisation") was a Sri Lankan Islamist jihadist militant group implicated in the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. It is believed to have tie ...

. The institute has attracted a number of controversies including financial irregularities including in violation of financial regulations, forcible acquisition of land, teaching of Sharia law as well as well a "negative report" by the Intelligence agencies before construction began. During the 2020 Coronavirus Outbreak the empty buildings were proposed to be used as a Quarantine centre for visitors from countries that were affected by the outbreak.

History

The university was initiated in 2016 as the Malik Abdulla University College by then Government Minister Mahamood Hizbullah, who is the current Governor of Eastern Province with funding from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Sri Lankan Government on land released from

Mahaweli Authority Mahaweli Authority is a state-owned operator in Sri Lanka for managing the Mahaweli River and its projects. It was established in 1979. The primary objective of the Mahaweli Authority is to implement the Mahaweli River development scheme. One of t ...

of Sri Lanka. In 2016 the name of changed to Batticaloa Campus Pvt Ltd.

Controversy

Sharia law

Following the

2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related Terrorism, terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, two smaller ...

, construction of the university has stopped and its nature has brought into question with claims that it is an Islamic university teaching

Sharia law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, inta ...

. While Hizbullah has denied that the university will teach Sharia law the website of the institute claimed that there will be a department dedicated to Sharia law but mentions of Sharia were removed after the controversy.

Degree awarding status

It has been claimed that the institution has been granted degree awarding status from the Ministry of Higher Education and Highways and the University Grants Commission. However this has been rejected by the government further stating that such an approval was not given for construction of such university.

Financial Irregularities

When questioned by the Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the attacks Chairman of Bank of Ceylon (BOC) Senarath Bandara says that the Batticaloa Campus Private Limited never mentioned that Rs 3.5 billion deposited to the BOC savings accounts was received as a foreign loan from a Saudi Arabian company. While Hizbullah stated that he also received a grant he failed to submit any document to the Committee to prove it.

Forcible acquisition of land

The Parliamentary Select Committee called for an investigation the land allocated by the Mahaweli Authority of the Sri Lankan government as it was noted that the Campus was occupying 35 acres beyond what was allocated to it.

Negative report of Intelligence Agencies

When the Hira Foundation which builds the campus requested permission to register as a NGO in 2012 the intelligence agencies of Sri Lanka gave a "negative report". However the banks that handled the funds of the institute only became aware of this in the aftermath of the bombings.

Government takeover

The National University Teachers’ Associations has called for the government to take over the university. The government aftermath the terror attacks decided to assign the university under the Higher Education Ministry.

References

External links

Batticaloa Campus Sri Lanka Official Website
{{authority control 2013 establishments in Sri Lanka Buildings and structures in Batticaloa Educational institutions established in 2013 Universities in Sri Lanka