The Sindh High Court has ordered the provincial government to rebuild 19 mosques that were demolished during an ongoing anti-encroachment campaign on the irrigation department's land in Sukkur.
However, the Sukkur circuit bench, comprising Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar and Justice Mahmood A Khan, directed that alternative land should be provided for the reconstruction. During the hearing, Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl's Sindh general secretary Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro lambasted the district administration and irrigation officials for demolishing the mosques.
"It is on the government to construct mosques from public funds, like schools, hospitals and other facilities," he argued, lamenting that the government had failed to fulfil this responsibility. He added that land was not even provided for building mosques.
Irrigation officials, however, claimed the demolished mosques had already been dilapidated, adding that permission had not been sought from the relevant authorities prior to their construction. The court directed the district administration to continue the anti-encroachment drive, giving two private medical centres two weeks to voluntarily vacate their buildings on the encroached land.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2020.
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