Cricket fans of the old city area have been left with no option but to hand over Bagh-e-Jinnah to Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) for holding its first show of power on April 24, it has been learnt.
Situated in the middle of high-rise buildings, Bagh-e-Jinnah serves as a place where the cricket fans can play on their off-days. This is one of the only places in the locality which allows outdoor sports; it is certainly the largest.
“There is a scarcity of grounds in the area and the allocated sports places have already been encroached,” a cricket fan told this scribe. “In the absence of grounds in the locality, Bagh-e-Jinnah served as a place where we could hold games on off-days,” the resident maintained.
“The annual matriculation examination has just ended and we planned a cricket tournament on pitches in Bagh-e-Jinnah ground, but now we will have to postpone the event,” the cricket fan added.
When this scribe visited Bagh-e-Jinnah, a few of the children were seen playing along the boundary-wall of the field as the pitches were occupied by the organisers of the PSP congregation.
“We spend the whole week in the madrassa and then come to Bagh-e-Jinnah to play cricket, but this Friday we cannot hold a match,” a madrassa student claimed. “Amid unavailability of pitches, we have decided to play along with the boundary-wall of the ground,” he maintained.
The organisers of the event have dug up the ground at different places to lay down electric wires for supplying power to the main stage. Heavy generators have reached the ground and are being connected with the underground electric wires. The organisers of the public gathering have also established toilets for the participants to facilitate them during the event.
One of the tanker drivers watering Bagh-e-Jinnah ground was asked about the cost of the water, he said that he was charging Rs 3,000 to supply water within five kilometers of the radius of the filling point.
The driver said that the normal supply of water would be made on Monday as all the water tankers supplying water to the old city area from a KWSB water hydrant situated in Lasbella had been booked by the PSP till Sunday.
PSP PREPARATIONS ENTER FINAL STAGE:
PSP preparations for April 24 public gathering have entered final stage. The main stage and the journalists’ stage have been placed and now the decoration work is going on at a rapid pace. PSP has announced a concert on April 23 [Saturday], a day before its first show of power, and arrangements in this regard have been completed.
A dance rehearsal has been going on for the last two days. Residents of the area gather at night to watch the preparation. On Friday, thousands of chairs were brought from various parts of the city on rent as part of the sitting arrangements of the participants.
