Karachi school demolition

To date, not many people in Pakistan give a jot about education. This conclusion is justifiably drawn after the girls’ section of an active school, the Jufelhurst Government School, was torn down near Karachi’s Gurumandir by a so-called ‘builder mafia’. In all fairness, the incentive of this mafia was the prime land placement of the school building, which was built in 1931. However, the school, that was educating 1,000 students, is now rendering students helpless as the greed of some takes control. Regardless of whether or not the school building possesses a heritage site title, which is under dispute, enthusiastic Karachiites would argue that given its location, history, and architecture, the school deserved protection.

This is another case where an act of injustice took place right under the police’s nose. It ignored the school administration’s protest when it should have granted overnight protection to the building until the matter was resolved through court. An issue over the school’s maintenance arose five years ago, on which this newspaper reported. Evidently, the matter of maintenance was pushed aside altogether with the building now gone. It is true that shady things happen here in the night. The behaviour of the party that demolished the building at 4am knowing there was expressed discontent is impish. If the land is property of the education department, relinquished after founder Sybil D’Abreo died 15 years ago, how can this ‘builder mafia’ have the gall to vandalise government property, and that, too, right in front of the police? This is a matter to be investigated for foul play because we have a history of politicians parading on heritage sites, such as Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and friends’ in 2014, ironically to ‘celebrate’ the Sindh Cultural Festival. It is facetious that those granted authority over this land and its people have so little respect for the land and its offerings. They do not deserve their honourable responsibilities. The school needs to fight back with the support of the education department and civil society. In a country with a dearth of public schools, the destruction of any is despicable.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2017.

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