Karachi: Is it Jehangir Park’s swan song?

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Shahid Husain
The 100-year-old Jehangir Park in Saddar Town is dying a slow death due to the negligence of civic authorities and is likely to be encroached upon by the land mafia in due course of time.

“There was a time when the park seemed to be a piece of heaven. There used to be lots of greenery, with a profusion of trees including fruits such as mango, jumbolina (Jaman) and sugar–apple (Sharifa). Good families visited the park along with their children. Now you will find homosexuals soliciting for clients, pick-pockets, gamblers and drug addicts,” Salahuddin Khan, an employee of City District Government Karachi (CDGK), told The News.

“My father Maulvi Abdul Haq was the Pesh Imam of this mosque and he laid its foundation,” he said, pointing towards the mosque. Obviously Khan was not aware that Jehangir Park was donated to Karachi by Khan Bahadur Behramji Jehangirji Raj Kot Wale in 1883 and the mosque that he claimed was built by his late father was the first encroachment in the historic park.

A fountain was constructed in the park in 1893 and was named Behram Bagh. Later in the 1920s, a cricket ground was laid and a pavilion built in 1931. After the creation of Pakistan in August 1947, political rallies culminated in the park. “I have heard that Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah offered prayers in Jehangir Park and cricket matches were held here,” said Mohammad Abrar, an elderly employee of the CDGK, who resides in a quarter in the park.

Today one does not find any water in the fountain. Instead, there is debris of construction material and people urinating in the remnants of the historical fountain. Several coconut trees were chopped down by the authorities to construct a sewage drain in the park some eight months ago; besides, trees that died a natural death were not replaced. However, there are still some coconut, Neem and eucalyptus trees in the park. “I have been living here for the past 20 years,” said another employee of the CDGK, Iqbal Saeed. “There was a time when there was a grill all around the park but drug addicts have broken it at several places,” he said.

“Today you will find kids inhaling Samad bond and pick-pockets relaxing under a tree after performing their job in the crowds at the Empress Market and Saddar,” he said. “Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani used to conduct prayers here in Ramazan and after his death his son performs the Taraweeh,” he said.

A couple of years ago, the CDGK initiated a plan to develop a multi-storey car parking facility in a certain portion of the Jehangir Park but it was challenged in a court of law by columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee on the plea that it was misuse of public property. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Mian Shakirullah and Justice Syed Jamshed Ali reportedly warned the CDGK against future use of the five-acre public park for any commercial activity and ordered it to restore the park to its original condition. Directives were also issued for the city government to develop the Jehangir Park. However, the apathetic condition of the park amply demonstrates that no effort has been done to develop the park.

“The Supreme Court has given a stay on Jehangir Park. Hence no development activity can be initiated there,” said Saddar Town Nazim, Mohammad Dilawar. “It’s true that plantation can be done but for that pits have to be made, but the city government, under whose jurisdiction the park comes, apprehends that objections might be made that some developmental activity is going on in the park,” he said.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=178826