Citizens deprived of cultural icon on Eid

[LahoreEstate]

* Gawalmandi resident rejects claims that Food Street residents had difficulty transporting ill relatives, funeral processions

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: Citizens will be deprived of one of the most visited tourist spots on Eid as the government has not been able to restore the historic Gawalmandi Food Street to its original condition despite promises by officials.

Shop owners told Daily Times on Sunday that the city’s cultural history would face a black day, and said the government had destroyed a cultural icon to settle its political scores. The government has not only removed both gates of the Food Street, but has also destroyed the tiled road, opening it to traffic. The government claims it took the step on locals’ complaints that they could not even transport their ill relatives or funeral processions with the gates being closed. However, shopkeepers told Daily Times that they had been threatened of further persecution if they protested against the government. Haji Bashir, a 75-year-old shopkeeper who has lived and worked in the area since Partition, said the Food Street had been equally famous among locals and foreigners. He said the provincial government was oblivious to the injustice, but the people would never forget the government for allowing this act.

No difficulty: Bashir rejected the idea that locals were unable to transport their relatives to hospitals due to the closure of the gates. “We had appointed two guards at each gate and they always opened the gates for the residents,” he said. The elderly man’s wife’s funeral was also taken from the same street. Abdul Basit, another shopkeeper said a large number of people used to visit the Food Street on Eid, and the owners had to book in advance due to a shortage of space. Basit said the livelihood of thousands of people was associated with the Food Street and the majority of them would be unemployed on Eid. He said he used to work and live in the US, but had come back to join his father’s business.

“There used to be many foreigners on Eid and it remained a major attraction for them in Pakistan. It was a major source of income for us,” he said.Food Secretary General Secretary Malik Qasim told Daily Times that the government representatives and political activists of a ruling party were openly threatening and harassing the shopkeepers to keep their mouths shut. He said some of the political activists supported by the ruling party forcibly hoisted banners against the Food Street. Qasim said protest was the shopkeepers’ right. He said the shop owners were making a strategy to hold protests and press conferences.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?pag...009_pg13_1