The people, and more particularly, our city fathers, have destroyed one park after another in the name of development and the few that remain are also earmarked for the executioner’s block.

One such park, Jahangir Park, has a historical significance. I remember spending many evenings in this park as a child. I also remember my father telling me that he had attended a public meeting here addressed by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan.

Another public meeting he would mention was addressed by the then Egyptian Vice President Anwar Sadaat at a function marking the promulgation of the 1956 constitution.

A Parsi philanthropist donated his six-acre plot in the middle of Saddar in 1893 to the city of Karachi for use as a public park. Later, a cricket ground and a pavilion were built, and the area provided recreation to generations of Karachiites.

A few years after the creation of Pakistan this park began to progressively suffer. An alarming encroachment is that of a mosque on the corner of the park which is now expanding. The expansion will destroy what is left of the park.

The Supreme Court came to the rescue of Karachiites and took suo motu notice. It issued directives: “. . . the city government is restrained from converting the same in future to any other use save in accordance with the law.”

Now the city district government should restore the status of the public park and develop it accordingly”.

I request the chief minister to save this historic park.

Mohammad Ali Janoo

Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2016