KARACHI: The local administration on Tuesday launched an operation following the orders of the Supreme Court to remove the Pavilion End Club and end all commercial activities on the premises of the Aladdin amusement park in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. However, the exercise attracted strong reaction from the traders and shopkeepers of the facility, who resisted the move, leading to the blockade of main Rashid Minhas Road and causing a severe traffic jam for several hours.

Despite resistance and protest, the anti-encroachment department of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) continued its activity and demolished several concrete structures. As the protest continued the traffic police closed the road from Aladdin park to NIPA suspending movement of vehicles.

Director anti-encroachment cell of the KMC Bashir Siddiqui said that the Pavilion End Club and shopping mall were built illegally and being demolished under the SC’s orders but there was resistance from shopkeepers which delayed the operation.

A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed had directed the local administration to remove the Pavilion End Club and end all commercial activities on the premises of the Aladdin amusement park in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

As the officials of the city administration and heavy machinery reached the site in the first half of the day, a large number of traders having shops in the mall gathered at the site and started chanting slogans against the operation.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2021