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Why was Liaquat National Library turned into a rest house?
KARACHI, Sept 26: The government of Sindh and
the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) were put on notice by a division
bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice
Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi in a case seeking the restoration of Liaquat National
Library (LNL).
The orders came during the hearing of a constitutional
petition filed by Zafar Qureshi, a member of Al-Qanoon Trust through counsel
Islam Hussain. The petitioner maintained that LNL was a national treasure and
contained a number of historical manuscripts, a large number of books and other
record in the form of films etc. which served as reference material for
researchers.
It was maintained that during the recent monsoons, sewerage
water entered the building and damaged valuable books. Instead of saving the
national treasure, the state functionaries sold the books and LNL, among a
handful of libraries in the city, was converted into a rest house for officers.
A number of government offices were also established there illegally, the
petitioner maintained, praying the court to restore it as a library
again.
The bench issued pre-admission notices to the Sindh government and
CDGK for a date to be fixed later. Daily Times
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