YMCA ground or parking lot | Lecturers' appointment case
YMCA ground turning into a parking lot?
Karachi, June 20: The mysterious appearance of banners inviting the public to park their
vehicles at the protected amenity plot of the Young Men's Christian Association
(YMCA) has spread a wave of panic among the Christian minorities. The
DIG traffic department has denied that it has converted the plot into a charged
parking space. Whereas when the mobile number mentioned on the banner was called
the person who picked up claimed that the charged parking was set up by the
owner of the YMCA ground, whereas the ground is an amenity and can be owned by
no individual. Protesting the move, Pakistan Minority Front Chairman and
former Sindh MPA Michael Javaid has announced that a mass campaign would be
launched throughout the province against the establishment of a charged parking
at the ground. "Influential people, including some belonging to the current
government, are involved in the illegal occupation of the protected YMCA ground,
but we will not allow them to do so and will fight for the recovery of our
ground," he said. Javaid also alleged that Provincial Minister for
Minority Affairs Dr Mohan Lal despite belonging to the minority community, is
not supporting Christians on this issue but when Lal was contacted, he bluntly
rejected to comment on the issue. Historical records reveal that during
the British era, the government allocated different plots to different
communities living in the city. The YMCA ground was given to the Christian
community, the Muslim Gymkhana was given to the Muslims and the Hindu Gymkhana
was set aside for the Hindus of the city, so that every community can organise
social gatherings and religious programmes in peace. The attempt to
occupy this historical piece of land is not new, as in the past some influential
people have successfully grabbed the land and are running a marriage hall as
well as a hall for setting up exhibitions on the premises. Recently, the traffic
department has acquired some portions of the ground so that towed vehicles can
be brought and parked here till the owners arrive and claim their cars after
paying a fine. "We were using an empty plot close to the Artillery Ground but we
shifted here due to security issues, but not before taking permission from the
owner," said DIG traffic department's Khurrum Gulzar. The officials tow
an estimated 8,000 motorbikes and 1,000 cars daily from Zone no 1. Each car is
charged Rs 600 while a motorbike is charged Rs 300 under the MVR rules, but
usually the fine ticket is not issued and traffic officials do not charge the
actual amount. Ironically, the new location, which replaces the plot
near the Artillery Ground due to security reasons, is located just adjacent the
Sindh Governor's House. When the man, Shabir Siyal, whose number graces
the banner, was contacted, he said that the monthly parking charges for a car
are Rs 1,500 and for a motorcycle is Rs 500. He also went on to assure this
scribe that the parking at the YMCA ground is safe. When he was asked about the
legal details of the arrangement, he expressed his ignorance on the issue,
saying that he was just looking after the parking and was not aware of who
exactly owned it.
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Lecturers' appointment case
Karachi: The Sindh government still undecided and unable to solve the issue of appointment of
lecturers had no defence before a division bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC),
which was perturbed over non-implementation of its orders, here on
Friday. When a contempt plea filed by 336 candidates selected and
recommended by the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) but still denied of
posting orders came up for hearing, Additional Advocate General Sindh Sarwar
Khan told the bench that steps are being taken to implement the orders of the
court and a summary has been moved to the education department. He also informed
the bench that the government has filed an appeal before Supreme Court of
Pakistan. The bench again observed that in the absence of any interim order or
stay, the provincial government needs to implement the orders of the SHC. AAG
Sarwar Khan, unable to satisfy the court, had no other option but to seek more
time. The bench allowed the request with the direction to AAG to submit a report
by next date of hearing fixed as June 30. Census stopped, DAG tells SHC:
After receipt of complaints from different sources and general public, the
census has been stopped at some of the areas, Deputy Attorney General Umar Hayat
Sindhu told a division bench of the SHC here on Friday comprising Justice
Muhammad Athar Saeed and Justice Bin Yamin. The bench was hearing a
constitutional petition filed by MPAs Mir Ghalib Domki and SardarAbid Khan
Sundrani who maintained that instead of local people, people from outside are
deputed as census workers which is violation of the provisions of the
Constitution of Pakistan. Daily Times
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18 students caught cheating
18 students caught cheating: Eighteen students appearing in the higher secondary school, first year papers of the
Pakistan Studies, and additional zoology private and regular were caught and
reported for cheating. According to a BIEK press release, the Chairman of the
board paid a surprise visit to the examination centres and during his
inspection, 18 students were caught involved in unfair means. The News
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