Apropos the demolition of an eighty-year old school located in Karachi, Garden East, which was built in 1928 by Jufel Hurst and has been functioning since 1931 and existing on city records, shows the power and impunity with which the powerful land mafias operate. It is a shameful and despicable act which only serves to illustrate the extent with which this cancer of greed has penetrated our society.
Nothing seems to matter to them.
What purpose do the Commissioner, DC, Provincial Government, Police, Intelligence agencies etc. serve? Are we going to be duped to accept that this was done by a few and that authority figures were unaware of it? After all, the bulldozers involved must have come from somewhere. Was everybody sleeping and could this be the work of an SHO or an Inspector alone?
The unfortunate reality is that the land mafia has become more powerful than the State itself. Schools and buildings which have been declared heritage sites are being demolished. Instead of building more schools, we are demolishing those that exist. Are we genuinely committed to this war against terrorism? There is an organised and determined move by powerful vested interests to ensure that literacy does not spread in this country. Billions generated by the powerful land mafia seem to have blinded existing state machinery and elected public office holders from discharging their constitutional duties for which they are paid salaries.
We are all aware that a plot of land allocated for construction of a school in Sukkur was occupied by a powerful MNA, who built his house on it. After the initial hue and cry, the palatial house still exists whilst political parties continue in their rhetoric and commitment to eradicate extremism by promoting education. What can be worse than the fact that even the house belonging to Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah located in Lahore Cantonment, which was acquired from him in 1944 under Defense of India Rules, has not been returned to his rightful heirs?
Malik Tariq
Lahore