IT is heartening to learn that the Supreme Court has imposed a total ban on the conversion of residential and amenity plots in Karachi into commercial spaces (Jan 24).

More welcoming is the censure by the apex court of the management of cantonment boards and Defence Housing Authority both of which have become a law unto themselves and systematically destroyed the city’s environment by their voracious appetite for land and commercial activities.

I earnestly pray that the apex court can make these institutions reverse the damage they have done to Karachi and pay for it from their own pocket, and put the aforementioned plots to their original use.

Many of the residential plots in DHA Karachi are being used for commercial purposes like tuition centres and clinics. I appeal to the apex court to ensure the DHA Karachi also follows the law.

A. Siddiq
Karachi

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2019