KARACHI, April 20: Markazi Jamaat Ahle Sunnat (MJA), Karachi chapter, has urged the government to get the 40-year-old Makkia Ghausia Eidgah, located in Sector 5-E New Karachi, vacated from the builders’ mafia by implementing the order of the provincial ombudsman immediately.

The MJA made this demand at a protest rally staged outside the Karachi Press Club. MJA leader Qazi Ahmad Noorani Siddiqui distributed a copy of the provincial ombudsman’s decision dated 12-1-1999 in favour of the Eidgah and other documents among media-men.

He said that instead of implementing the ombudsman’s decision, the inept administration and police had become instruments of the builders’ mafia, who had tried to demolish minarets of the Eidgah and its foundation stone, laid by Allama Shafi Okarvi in 1972, but resistance from local people had foiled their designs.

He said that the builders’ mafia had again started construction under the patronage of the police and administration, while members of the Eidgah Committee and Sunni youths were being threatened of serious consequences by armed elements.

Qazi Noorani said that if mosques and Eidgahs were not provided protection, the youths of Karachi would be compelled to take up batons as was being done in Islamabad.

He appealed to the governor and chief minister to restore the status of Eidgah Makkia Ghausia and arrest those responsible for threatening the Ahle Sunnat youths.

Maulana Muhammad Rauf Qadri accused the police of partiality, saying officials of Bilal Colony Police Station refused to accept their complaint.

He warned that if construction work was not stopped forthwith, the situation could worsen and the administration would be held responsible.