KARACHI, Feb 13: A group of 22 prominent citizens have expressed distress at the waterfront project being launched by the Defence Housing Authority.
They have issued and signed a statement which reads, “The Karachi beach with its natural beauty and environment is an asset belonging to the citizens of Pakistan. It appears that the entire sea front will be occupied by the elite and the common man will be denied access to the death. The same is also a violation of environmental laws and basic fundamental human rights.
“For the recreation starved citizens of Karachi, beaches were one of the few places for leisure nad relaxation. The decision to turn this vital ecological and recreational asset into private property for blatant commercial exploitation is at the cost of the poor people’s right to this multi-class recreational and stress-releasing natural resource.
“The beach is the one recreational area that is used by all citizens belonging to every strata of society.
“We are not against the development of the city. The development must take place in such a way that it ensure that any construction that takes place must be in accordance with the laws and regulations and that no fundamental constitutional rights of the citizens are violated.
“We, therefore rejects any development on the beach front that shall deprive the citizens of their right and “provide the rich and affluent the luxuries of an aristocratic life style.”
Some of signatories are Justice Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim, Mr. Arif Hasan, Professor Haroon Ahmed, Ather Viqar Azeem, Dr. Syed Tariq Sohail, Taj Haider, Zain Alavi, Nahid Raza, Zohra Yousuf, Naveed Husain, M. B. Naqvi, Sultana Siddiqui, and Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid.
