Protesters ask SC to reconsider mosque demolition decision

Thousands of activists of the Jamait-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl and local residents attended a protest on Friday to urge the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to demolish a mosque built on an amenity park’s land.

A two-judge bench had recently directed the Karachi commissioner and other officials to remove in a week the Madina Mosque on Tariq Road constructed on a park and restore

the land to its original purpose.

The JUI-F organised the protest outside the mosque after the Friday prayers. Addressing the protest’s participants, JUI-F’s senior leader and senator Hamdullah said it is a religious and Islamic duty of every Muslim to defend this mosque and to refrain from demolishing it in the publicinterest.

“There is a double standard in enforcing court decisions and illegal lands are being given to private builders by regularisation,” he said. “If Bani Gala and Hayat Residency can be regularised, why not mosques?” Hamdullah asked.

JUI-F Sindh secretary general Allama Rashid Soomro said the participation of workers from all political parties and residents in a large number showed that the demolition of a mosque was not a problem of an individual or a single political party, but of the entire Muslim Ummah.

He said that in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, “we will not allow the mosque to be razed under any circumstances”. JUI-F district president Qari Muhammad Usman said the PECHS secretary had clearly stated in his NOC that permission had been granted to build a mosque at the Dilaksha Park for the needs of the residents.

“Also, audits have been conducted and all utility bills have been paid every year since then. Every year, an audit is conducted by a registered committee,” he said. Ali Aziz GG, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s MPA from the area, said the people would not allow the demolition of the mosque.

Jamaat-e-Islami Sindh chief Muhammad Hussain Mehanti said the Madina Masjid was not the Nasla Tower. He requested that the Supreme Court of Pakistan should review its order for the demolition of the mosque.