09 February 2004	Monday	17 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Feb 8: Speakers at a rally on Sunday condemned the illegal occupation of the Young Men's Christian Association by some elements and demanded that it be given back to the community.

Speaking at the rally organized by the Christian Commission for Justice and Peace at the Press Club, they criticised the social welfare department and said it had misused its powers and handed over the YMCA administration to vested interests.

They said the government and the land mafia were hand in gloves and wanted to misappropriate the YMCA's prime land valued conservatively at a couple of billion rupees.

They said the city government too had passed a resolution against the take-over, but the government had not yet restored the YMCA's possession back to the community. They said owing to this a sense of insecurity was spreading among the minority communities.

Former members of the Sindh Assembly, Michael Javed, Saleem Khursheed Khokhar, Younus Khan and others spoke on the occasion. The demonstrators offered prayers on the road outside the YMCA as they were not allowed to enter a church in the YMCA premises.

Later, the demonstrators took out a procession and marched through various city roads and came to different newspaper offices. They staged a sit-in to register their protest.