Karachi: Hundreds of acres of land has been occupied by the Pakistan Army for developing a new cantonment area in Karachi, it was stated in the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s member of provincial assembly (MPA) Nadeem Ahmed Bhutto said hundreds of acres land belonging to 123 villages of Keamari and Baldia towns, the Board of Revenue and the Lyari Development Authority was being earmarked for developing a new cantonment area.
He claimed that according to his information, a notification had been issued in this regard by the military land authorities.
He demanded the Sindh government take steps to prevent such a project.
Sindh Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani said he was unaware of the scheme, but promised he would gather information and inform the house on Wednesday (today).
Sindh Revenue Minister Jam Mahtab Daher said reservations of the local people were justified, and he sought a report from his department in this regard.
Quaid’s birthplace: Sindh Culture Minister Sassui Palijo informed the Sindh Assembly that her department was ready to initiate an inquiry to confirm that the birthplace of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was Jhirk in Thatta district.
Responding to a question, she said a team of Sindh’s writers and intellectuals had carried out a research in mid-1990s in this regard.
The team had visited Jhirk and met the families living there for a long time, and consulted textbooks printed in the 1950s, she added.
She said the team had come to the conclusion that the birthplace of Quaid-e-Azam was Jhirk.
The textbook in which Jhirk was mentioned as the birthplace of Quaid-e-Azam was written by Dr Umar Bin Daudpoto, and Fatima Jinnah was alive at the time when the book was a part of the primary education syllabus, she said.
She added that at the time of Quaid-e-Azam’s birth, Thatta was a part of Karachi, and Wazir Mansion was built six years after Quaid-e-Azam’s birth.
Sindh Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani said the Board of Revenue could be asked to obtain the records in this regard.
