ISLAMABAD: Unknown persons allegedly vandalised the sculpture of a symbolic brave woman, installed in the city’s Kachnar Park in I-8 sector, exposing the utter inefficiency of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) as the park management remained oblivious to this tragedy until the issue was highlighted on social media. However, the CDA has been denying this by saying that no incident of vandalism took place and the statue fell down because it was too heavy.

The issue came to the fore on Wednesday morning when park visitors, who also run a Facebook page titled ‘Friends of Kachnar Park’, highlighted it.

The CDA, with the help of an artist had installed the sculpture in the park in March this year, which was dedicated to brave women in society.

A university teacher, Tahir Malik, after seeing the broken statue tweeted: “Shameful act of vandalism in Kachnar Park ... CDA and Islamabad police should take strict action.”

CDA denies allegation, stating it fell down

Speaking to Dawn, Mr Malik said as per locals, the statue was broken allegedly by someone at night as until Tuesday it was placed well. He said though the CDA was claiming that the statue fell down but unfortunately, several incidents of vandalism had already taken place in various parts of the country in recent years so it could not be ruled out.

It is relevant to note here that last year, the statue of famous Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh, installed in Lahore, was also vandalised whereas last year, the statue of hockey star Samiullah Khan installed in Bahawalpur was defiled by thieves who had stolen the ball and the hockey stick attached to it.

In response to a tweet posted by a university teacher, the CDA stated that the statue had been re-fixed and the civic agency will also get a first information report (FIR) registered.

“Regarding the unfortunate incident of vandalism of the sculpture in Kachnar Park, directions have been issued for registration of an FIR. Meanwhile, it has been re-fixed and instructions have been issued to enhance the security of all parks. Possibility of the staff’s negligence is also being investigated,” the CDA tweeted, adding that, “appropriate disciplinary action will be taken in case of negligence”.

When contacted, park manager, Deputy Director Mohammad Idrees denied any foul play, stating that the statue was not vandalised but fell down due to its weight.

“We have conducted a probe and there was no sign and footprint of anyone near the statue, whereas, all equipment of the statue also remained undamaged which shows that it fell down accidently.

“Actually, some visitors who came to the park early in the morning for a walk after offering prayers highlighted the issue in their WhatsApp groups. My guard reported the issue to the supervisor at around 6:45am,” he said.

During the last two years or so, the CDA had renovated almost all parks of the city, spending a large amount of funds.

Sources said the environment wing spent billions of rupees without calling tenders and majority of the works were done through quotations in violation of rules and regulations. They said the statue was also installed through quotation funding.

The CDA’s audit wing on the direction of the chairman has been conducting an inquiry of three directorates of the civic agency for carrying out massive development work without calling tenders. It is said that some directorates of the CDA carried out work worth over Rs10 billion through quotations, without tenders.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2022