Following the assurance of the Sindh Local Bodies Minister Saeed Ghani, owners of marriage halls in Karachi called off their strike on Saturday.
Rana Raees, the president of marriage hall association said, “The strike call was taken back after the Sindh’s LB Minister Saeed Ghani assured them not to demolish their halls”.
The Sindh’s minister announced that the provincial government had decided to halt the anti-encroachment operation against Karachi marriage halls.
Saeed Ghani said that the Sindh government would file a review petition in the apex court against the order to demolish marriage halls in Karachi. He said that the government would extend deadline for razing the halls and would try to find out any other solution.
Earlier in the day, marriage hall owners had decided to shutdown marriage halls from Jan 27 onwards for an indefinite period of time over notice issued by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA).
The SBCA issued notices to the dwellers of the buildings to vacate them in a week. The building authority teams had also given an advertisement in newspapers about buildings built in contravention of SBCA laws.
It said that the NOCs issued for wedding halls, hotels, hospitals, schools, petrol stations, CNG stations, housing societies and other structures built on residential lands had been cancelled.
Meanwhile, Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar had also said that the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) will not raze legal marriage halls in the metropolis.
Akhtar said that the buildings asked to be demolished did not encroach upon, but in fact changed their land utility.
On Jan 24, the SC had ordered demolition of all marriage halls situated along three major arteries of the city falling within the remits of Cantonment Board.
The apex court ordered that all wedding halls situated along Karsaz, Shahrah-e-Faisal and Rashid Minhas Road be demolished. It also directed authorities to raze cinemas, commercial plazas and markets in cantonment areas.
Hearing the case, the court summoned heads of Airport Security Force (ASF), Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and other relevant authorities.
The top court also sought report from heads of the aforesaid institutions within two weeks.
“Go and demolish every structure that is in violation of the city’s original master plan and restore [Karachi] to its 40-year-old state,” Justice Gulzar had said while hearing a case pertaining to illegal constructions in the city.
“Who is allowing the construction of wedding halls, shopping centres and plazas in every other street?” the judge had asked during the hearing of the case. “Should we hand the city’s control over to the federal government?”
In a statement, Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Information and Pakistan People’s Party leader Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that the federal government should be aware of the fact that Karachi is not alone or orphan.
He said that commercialization of residential plots had also been done in Islamabad. The adviser said that the incumbent government had double standards when it comes to the rights of Karachiites. The adviser clarified that Pakistan People’s Party had never supported expulsion of people out of their homes in the name of anti-encroachment drive.
The adviser said that it was the MQM, which first took into illegal possession the state land to build homes. Murtaza Wahab said that the PPP rebuilt Karachi from Keamari to Surjani town. He said that a conspiracy was being hatched by blocking the water of the port city. The adviser alleged that votes of the PPP were given to the PTI illegitimately.
Published in Daily Times, January 27th 2019.
