Chief Justice stops KDA from carrying out demolition in Korangi

Relatives of missing persons share their agony with Justice Saqib Nisar

KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar has directed the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) to stop demolishing houses near Nasir Jump in Korangi. The CJP has also ordered the KDA, Board of Revenue and other authorities to present related land record within a month.

The orders came on Sunday when the CJP visited the Supreme Court (SC) Karachi Registry. Residents of the houses and relatives of missing persons staged demonstrations outside the registry. When Justice Nisar arrived, he ordered the court staff to collect applications from the protesters. He later met the protesters in his chamber.

The Korangi residents informed Justice Nisar about their houses being demolished. "Several residents have received notices," one of the residents lamented. According to the residents, the KDA had been claiming that their houses had been constructed on plots illegally carved out through China-cutting. They complained that plots should not have been allotted to them in the first place if they had been carved out illegally.



The CJP told the residents to express their concerns without fear. "We are here to ensure that justice is served," he said, adding that houses that had been built in compliance with the law would not be demolished. Justice Nisar stopped the authorities from initiating the demolition operation and directed them to submit land record of the plots concerned.

Missing persons

Families of missing persons also met the CJP in his chamber and informed him about their sorrows.

A woman informed Justice Nisar that her son, Muhammad Sabir Mansoor, a resident of Liaquatabad, had been missing since 2016. Another woman bemoaned that she and her husband had been exhausted after making countless visits to various departments in search of their son.

Many relatives of missing persons could not control their emotions and burst into tears while sharing their ordeal with Justice Nisar.

"The missing persons commission will ensure retrieval of your sons," Justice Nisar told the wailing parents. "We also feel pain for the missing persons. Senior officers are leading the designated commission," he said, issuing directives to forward names of the missing persons, whose relatives he met, to the commission.



CJP meets SCBA officer

Justice Nisar also met Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Sindh Vice-President Fareed Dayo in his chamber. Dayo invited the CJP for dinner, however, the CJP asked him to deposit the money for dinner in the dam fund, saying that he would suffice with tea and biscuits.

The SCBA office bearer informed the CJP that appointments of principals and board of governors in law colleges of Sindh were being made on political grounds. Justice Nisar told Dayo that the matter would be reviewed in the next hearing.

The lawyer also discussed the issue of load-shedding in Sindh with the CJP. He lamented that power cuts of up to 20 hours were taking place in rural Sindh.

The CJP later headed to Karachi Gymkhana where he offered media personnel to join him for lunch. The CJP remarked that he observed a cleaner Karachi during his visit. Commenting on a question pertaining to his surprise visit to hospitals in Karachi, Justice Nisar said he had paid visits to sub-jails, not hospitals.