KARACHI - The land mafia has grabbed the precious land of the Karachi University (KU) and started construction work at the premises of the university illegally, The Nation has learnt. The land mafia has grabbed the costly land in front of KU Silver Jubilee Gate in broad daylight but the university administration is playing the role of silent spectator, which shows the involvement of the big fish in this crime. KU Engineering department has shown criminal negligence towards the issue and providing support to mafia by conducting fake survey of the KU land. The fake survey has encouraged the mafia to do so, a well-placed source in the KU administration told The Nation on Wednesday. He said that land mafia had grabbed the precious land of the university with out any fear due to the support of the KU State Department and Engineering Department. It is pertinent to mention here that the KU was established by an Act of Parliament in September, 1950. The present campus, to which the University shifted in 1959, is spread over 1279 acres of land, situated 12 Km away from the city centre. He said, Few months ago both the said departments, under the supervision of KU Executive Engineer Adeel A Siddiqui and State Officer Naeem-ur-Rehman, had conducted a counterfeit survey to calculate the area of the KU land. The survey misconstrued deliberately to reduce the area of the land; present situation shows that the survey was conducted to provide the members of the land mafia an opportunity to grab such extra land freely. The grabbed land is situated opposite to the main gate (Silver Jubilee Gate) of the KU on main University Road. The captured portion of the land is considered as highly precious. According to the map made in 1954, the grabbed portion of land is integral part of the university, while the attack on the land of the countrys great institution is tantamount to devastate the culture of knowledge and wisdom. It is may be noted here that the survey, conducted by the Sindh governor house from 2001 to 2005, has also shown that the said grabbed fraction of the land is legal part of the KU. The map prepared by the governor house shows its association with the captured piece of the land. When The Nation contacted on the mobile phones of KU Executive Engineer Adeel A Siddiqui and State Officer Naeem-ur-Rehman, their phones were found unanswered.