For a megacity such as Karachi, whose inhabitants are from various different backgrounds, parks provide a neutral ground to gather and interact. Open spaces serve as the lungs for large settlements and are valuable venues for social interaction. Here, I present some past and current successes and failures, and what could be the future of Karachi’s parks.įrere Hall Gardens | Faysal Mujeeb/White Star While builders and various stakeholders have continued trying to misuse the land allotted for parks, often succeeding with support from those in power, the citizens have also fought back.Īs a volunteer working with Shehri-CBE, a citizen-run non-government organisation, I have been closely observing the current situation along with the context of everything that has happened before. This back and forth is a part of the city’s history. (Of course, it is still the common citizens who also have to pay a heavy price - be it the shopkeepers who lose their livelihood when their shops are torn down, the workers whose jobs are lost when clubs are shuttered or the people who lose their homes. But the recent rulings have given citizens some hope that someone is still protecting public spaces. Karachi’s mismanagement and lack of planning is a well-established fact. There was the Nasla Tower - the demolition of which began earlier this month - and the Pakistan Air Force-run Falcon Mall - which was quickly reimagined as the Air War College Institute, in order to circumvent its demolition. Karachi, in particular, has witnessed many such cases in the recent past. We are living in unprecedented times, with similar court rulings continuing to take aim at illegal structures and misuse of land and properties in major cities around the country. Justice Umar Ata Bandial, part of the three-member bench, said that the case was filed before the court in the public’s interest and that state properties were being misused. The club had encroached land which, according to the Islamabad Capital Territory Zoning Regulations 1992, was notified as the Margalla Hills National Park area in Zone III.Īnd just last week the Supreme Court ordered the Secretary Railway to issue an advertisement for tender of the Railway Royal Palm Golf Club in Lahore. More recently, on January 7, 2022, a landmark decision by the Islamabad High Court called for the demolition of another club - the Navy Sailing Club. The Supreme Court had instructed that the mall and the neighbouring Pavilion End Club should be demolished. Instead of cars and vans full of park visitors, large bulldozers made their way past the metal gates, tearing down hundreds of shops. Last summer, some unusual scenes unfolded at Aladdin Park. Its facade was built to resemble the castle in Aladdin’s Agrabah - a (fictional) city ‘of mystery, of enchantment and the finest merchandise…’ But, it turned out, the merchandise at the Aladdin Mall was being sold at an illegal structure built on amenity land, meant for a public park rather than any commercial activity. Every year, as the sun scorched the city, scores of Karachiites would make their way to the amusement and water park. Many living in Karachi associated the city’s Aladdin Park with summer fun. Can greed and corruption be replaced by a greener tomorrow? And what can past successes and failures teach us? Spurred by activist citizens, a number of recent court rulings have ordered the demolition of illegal structures encroaching on amenity spaces, including land allocated for public parks.
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