Karachi marriage hall owners take back strike call

F.P. Report

KARACHI All Karachi Marriage Halls Association (AKMHA) on Saturday withdrew its call for a strike in the city as the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) geared up to take action against illegal marriage halls.

The strike call was withdrawn after successful negotiations with Sindh Minister for Local Bodies.

AKMHA Secretary General Khawaja Tariq says that assurances have been provided by the minister that no action will be taken against the marriage hall owners on Monday.

“The marriage halls which can be made legal cannot be demolished. We have also appealed the government to give legal status to the halls and suspend action for 45 days,” he said.

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, who is also an MQM-P leader and part of its coordination committee, while deciding against the decision of Supreme Court has announced that marriage halls and buildings in the city will not be demolished.

Earlier, AKMHA staged a protest outside head office of SBCA in Civic Centre. They also tried to block University Road and exchanged harsh words with police officers.

SBCA held negotiations with the protesters but they ended in futility.

Later, AKMHA ended their protest but called a strike starting tomorrow saying that no events will be allowed in their marriage halls on Sunday.

SBCA has issued notices to 50 per cent of the marriage halls in districts East and Central, directing them to halt commercial activities on the plots.

The SBCA has given a three-day ultimatum following which an operation will be initiated against all the businesses being run on amenity plots, residential plots or converted plots.

Previously, SC had directed Sindh government to demolish all marriage halls and buildings situated along Karsaz, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Rashid Minhas Road and Malir.

Justice Gulzar Ahmed expressed resentment over destroying Karachi’s beauty and ordered the concerned authorities to devise a plan within two weeks for making the metropolis encroachment-free.

The court had summoned heads of Airport Security Force (ASF), Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and other relevant departments in the case.