KARACHI: The Jamaat-i- Islami (JI) on Sunday took out a rally in protest over the non-implementation of court orders in the Gulshan-i-Mehran Housing Society case and denying the right to allottees to construct their homes despite a lapse of 50 years.

Gulshan-i-Mehran Action Committee chairman Taufiquddin Siddiqui along with a scores of allottees staged the rally from Superhighway to Tank Chowk via Jinnah Avenue. The protesters said that they had not been handed over the possession of their plots even after 50 years. The action committee approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) that ruled in the favour of plot owners, but authorities had not honoured the verdict.

Mr Siddiqui said the second generation of original allottees had grown up and yet they were denied their rightful possession.

The JI leader said that the owners were unable to build houses because the cantonment board was “deterring approval of construction plans”.

Gulshan-i-Mehran in Scheme 33 was established in 1970. Employees working in various government departments were allotted plots for which they had to make payments. The rightful owners of the plots have been fighting for the possession and construction rights for the past 50 years.

According to the management, the entire land was registered in the name of the housing society and title documents were verified by Board of Revenue in January 2020.

The affectees have appealed to the army chief and director general military lands to take notice of their plight.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2022