KARACHI Taking in its lap part of the sea called Chinna Creek, or Boating Basin, and keeping at bay what are known as the land and builder mafias, the park named after the former assassinated prime minister reclines beautifully in a horseshoe fashion off Mai Kolachi Road. A first time visitor to the 152-acre park may exclaim in delight 'Wow, it's really Benazir.' And matchless it is indeed the park that cost Rs870 million.

But, alas, while work on the park, inaugurated at a ceremony by a woman senator from Lyari and opened to the public on June 30, is still under way, official neglect has begun taking its toll.

The city now has many vast and beautifully laid parks, including the Bin Qasim Park along the Clifton beach, but the Benazir Shaheed Park has certain qualities that make it outstandingly superior to others in facilities public parks offer. People from both posh and not so areas rub shoulders with one another in the park.

The elegant exercise machines may put many expensive gymnasiums and health clubs out of business as such gadgets are not available for free anywhere in the country. American glass has been used here, for the first time in a public park. And where else is the jogging track, 10-foot wide and 6,000-foot long, paved with sturdy planks? Nowhere, I imagine. The gardeners and guards are happy that now they get salaries regularly, though late in the next month. Children accompanying their parents use the exercise machines as swings, but older people may shoo them away for the while they can use them.

Trash washed ashore by high tide is not removed for a long time, if at all. Sometimes the stench from the garbage and the polluted sea water irritates people jogging, walking or strolling on the planked track.

However, even before you enter the park through the main gate, you would be lucky if you escape falling either into an open manhole or a big gapping sewerage chamber.

More than 180 plaques with the names of party workers killed in the Karsaz and Liaquat Bagh blasts are put up and saplings planted in the park. But there is already a big question mark over their maintenance and preservation.

Bricks have already begun disappearing from the pavements and many slabs lie broken or missing from their respective places. A recent visit to the park showed that most part of the park was in darkness and except for a few security guards, and at times only one manning the main gate, no guards were seen inside the park to take care of the fixtures or the few visiting families.