April 24, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1429

KARACHI, April 23: The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan has offered to construct a model police station to get back its six acres of land from illegal occupation.

Having failed to get a favorable response, even after a virtual ‘ransom payment’ of Rs25 million, and abortive attempts of governments since 1988 to remove illegal police occupation of the prime land for over a quarter century, the TDAP has made the offer to Aziz Bhatti police station in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

The authority plans to take up the second phase of Expo Centre project on the land to be vacated.

It has offered through the Sindh Home department to construct a ground plus two floors building on about 2,000 square yards with basement that would have car parking facilities. The upper two floors, the proposal suggests, could be used as residences of the police officers.

“Presence of Aziz Bhatti Police Station in an illegally constructed structure with a few private residences on six acres in immediate neighborhood of Expo Centre is an ugly spot on Pakistan’s image and conveys a negative message to the visiting foreign dignitaries,” remarked a TDAP officer.

He said the plan was to construct a three- or four-star hotel for the convenience of the visiting foreign dignitaries.

Karachi business leaders share TDAP’s concern as they, too, believe that the presence of a police station on an illegally constructed structure is hurting business interests.

“The Expo Centre project is designed to attract foreign investors to tell them Pakistan is a perfect venue of investment and business,” Majyd Aziz, a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.

A leader of Site Association of Industry said that the Rangers were occupying Site Stadium for the last more than 25 years and they could do nothing to get it back for healthy sports activities of labourers and children.

Sindh Home Secretary Mr Arif expressed his ignorance about any such proposal and his designated officer in the department tried to convey that negotiations and correspondence was being held between the TDAP and S&GD of the Sindh government.

However, a few documents in possession of Dawn revealed that the Sindh home department was fully involved in the matter right from the beginning.

Instead of responding to TDAP’s proposal, the police demanded the blueprint of development plan for the second phase of Expo Centre, which “obviously is not acceptable to us,” said an official.

The police, meanwhile, quietly moved the Karachi Development Authority to get ownership title of six acres of land in its name, which was refused and the TDAP was duly informed about it.

The Nawaz Sharif government gave away Rs15 million to police for getting 57 acres of plot near Civic Centre, Gulshan-i-Iqbal restored to the EPB where it could build the Expo Centre.

In 1995 Mr Abu Shamim Ariff took over as vice-chairman of EPB and with all his clout and authority managed to get 51 acres of land vacated from the police.

It could be done only after more than Rs10 million had been given as compensation to the occupants of illegally constructed homes in “Jilani Housing Society”, which was formed by the police on same land.

The issue of removing police station from the remaining six acres of land was discussed at the level of federal commerce ministry, the governor of Sindh and senior police officers and the Sindh home department.

The police has taken the plea that the then commerce minister Faisal Saleh Hayat agreed in 1989 to give 10 per cent of the 57 acres of land to police, which comes to 5.7 acres.

But according to the TDAP officials it was always considered to be a temporary solution.

Senior businessmen recall that the Karachi building authorities allotted 57 acres more than 50 years ago. Three international trade fairs were held in early sixties but an ugly incident in 1963 when a policeman went berserk and shot a few persons dead brought an abrupt halt to such events.

Later in 1983, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry organised an international fair at this place, which proved to be a big flop and a bigger scam. On orders of the then Martial Law administrator General (retd) Jehandad Khan, the allotment was cancelled by a three-line notification issued by the area SDM.

Later the police moved in and occupied all the stalls of the exhibition. The FPCCI alleged that the police took away all the expensive fixtures of stalls.