WINSTON Spencer Churchill once said : “We shape our cities, they shape our lives.” He meant it; and I mean it too.

Playground: Lahore’s Doongi ground has been around as long as has Gulberg, the area it serves. Spread over some six acres of land, it is the sole large open space, and undeveloped park, available to the residents of the area. For almost half a century it has been part of life in Gulberg — it formed part of the original master plan. It has always been used by the young, privileged and under-privileged, and by children of the adjoining schools, for sports activities — cricket, football, or whatever have you — and by their elders for strolling around, walking, jogging or just simply taking the air.

The ground has been elevated by the Pakistan Cricket Board to the status of a cricket ground and on its old pitch various local cricket clubs have organized their tournaments. It has been a training ground for many of our former cricket stalwarts — Sarfaraz Nawaz, Aftab Gul and Aqib Javed being but three of our international stars who are old Doongiites.

Now, under the military supervised government of Punjab, under which every bit of open land is frowned upon as being a waste if not put to good lucrative use and immediately concretized, poor old Doongi ground was naturally not expected to escape. Sure enough, one fine day earlier this year, the ground was cordoned off, surrounded by steel sheets six feet high, and it was announced that a certain entertainment company, a part of the Punjab government, in cahoots with a Canadian cineplex, had taken it over with the purpose of constructing a large ‘elite’ highly lucrative shopping mall (one to add to the the millions that cover our once green cities) and thrown in for good measure to give it a sporting touch, a bowling alley. It is estimated that the total value of the Doongi ground is somewhere in the region of Rs.2,500 million. Now, that is no mean sum and there was of course no way that the sharp and efficient members of the government of the biggest province, those representatives of the beloved people, were about to leave such valuable property to be used by the common awam with no one making a handsome profit. That would be stupid — and stupid they are not.

The distraught residents and youngsters called upon the NGO Shehri (Karachi-based) to come to their rescue, as has the organization on so many occasions in the past when land has been misappropriated here in Karachi and when buildings have been built in violation of all rules and codes. Shehri and 10 affected citizens went to the Lahore High Court (WP 1226/06) asking that the court declare that the transfer of Doongi to the entertainment company in question be halted, that the proposed project be declared illegal and that the ground be restored to the people of Gulberg.

The single judge, Justice Saeed Akhtar, heard all the parties concerned — on the other side the Lahore Development Authority, the government of Punjab and two of its departments, and an outfit called PEC — and on February 23 handed down an interim order that the status quo be maintained and whatever construction had so far taken place be immediately halted. The provincial government, for reasons obvious, filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court (this against the established law that an interim order cannot be the subject of an intra-court appeal), and a division bench vacated the stay order, removed the case from the single judge and marked it to a full bench on which the original judge would not sit.

Shehri had no alternative but to go to the Supreme Court (CP 522-L/06) — this is how judicial time is wasted and our system mocked. The Punjab government rustled up the usual high-powered lot — S M Zafar and his team, etc — the matter was heard on April 14 and admitted for hearing. In a pithy final paragraph to their 15-page order, the Supreme Court judges (Justices Khalilur Rehman Ramday and Raja Fayyaz Ahmed) remarked:

“We are conscious of the unusual volume and length of this leave-granting order but then the learned ASCs for the parties who assisted us in the matter for more than two days did not leave us with any other option and while parting with this order we wish to place on record our appreciation of the assistance rendered by them, especially by Mr S M Zafar, Sr ASC, Mr Mansoor Ali Shah, ASC, and by the learned Advocate General for Punjab.”

Government counsel S M Zafar must be delighted to know that his efforts have not been in vain.

The writ petition is pending in the Lahore High Court (next hearing June 26), the appeal is pending in the Supreme Court, construction has been stopped, the people have been deprived of an open space, a lung in the polluted city of Lahore, and many children no longer have a playground-cum-sports ground.

Not surprisingly, the ‘affected’ are now being ‘intimidated,’ the protesters and their lawyers are being ‘investigated,’ some are withdrawing, others press on.

Amenity plot: The old Star cinema in Karachi. Our recently installed go-getter city Nazim, who is always rushing around planning improvements to this chaotic filthy and impossible city, has not had time to get round to the building illegalities sanctioned by the Karachi Building Control Authority, to the shenanigans of the land mafia (unless he has chosen to let them have their way), and to the continued ruination of what little good is left of Karachi.

Cinemas have traditionally been constructed on amenity plots and are places of public entertainment. The few that are left cater to those who do not have access to VCRs, DVDs and the like. Cinemas are not, in this day and age, a public nuisance. In one of the most congested areas of Karachi’s Saddar, round the corner from what is known as the electronics bazaar, stands an old cinema, the Star. It is threatened with demolition as the KBCA has seen fit to sell an amenity plot to one of our builder/developer sharks for the construction thereon of another monstrous shopping mall which will further clog the clogged roads, further deplete the available power and other utilities, and add to the many public nuisances.

The situation can be saved, as it was saved long ago in the case of another Saddar cinema, the Bambino (once the pride and joy of former first father-in-law Hakim Ali Zardari). In 2000, this old rat-ridden edifice was put on the chopping block, sold to a shopping plaza builder, and the entire area threatened by a potential traffic explosion and depletion of utilities. The then chief secretary of Sindh, Zubair Kidwai, realized the mess that would be created by the change of land use, and put his foot down.

Highrise: ‘Sana Avenue,’ Karachi. Five honourable judges of the Sindh High Court sitting in three different forums (suits 570/04, HCA 106/06, HCA 142/06) have held that third parties occupying a building and claiming to be in ignorance of the law and of its legal status cannot be considered bona fide and must vacate the premises. Now the occupants have approached the Supreme Court appealing against concurrent judgments of the Sindh High Court and have hired the topmost legal eagles of the land to represent them.

On May 2, a heavily overscheduled day in the Supreme Court, a stay was granted, the illegal occupants were allowed to continue their occupation and the matter was adjourned to June 6. On that day the high soaring flyers were busy with the matter of the sale of the state’s Steel Mill and requested an adjournment. The matter was adjourned to June 20, the Judges remarking that no further adjournments would be granted. We now await with baited breath the arguments which will be advanced on that day.

E-mail: arfc@cyber.net.pk