100-year-old School building bulldozed in Karachi

KARACHI: Land mafia bulldozed around a 100-year-old building which was currently being used as a School in Soldier Bazar area of the city, apparently in a bid to occupy the land, ARY News reported on Monday.

The entire school building was razed to the ground by Land mafia in an overnight operation on Saturday.

This prompted authorities to take action against the land mafia.

Jamaat Islami (JI)’s leader Muhammad Hussain Mehnati alleged that the land mafia with police backing demolished the building.

However, the classes were held on routine basis. The children attended classes on the debris of collapsed building.

The school administration apprised the media that several such botched attempts had been made earlier. “Around 40 to 50 people entered in school premises late night and started demolishing it”, the school principal said.

The building was established back in 1928 and its foundation stone was reportedly laid by a World War-II survivor, Jufelhurst. The school is named after the lady.

The building was declared as a government school in 1974 by inducting the building in national heritage.

The deputy mayor Karachi, Arshad Vohra, while talking to media persons urged stern action against the culprits behind the incident and called for reconstruction of the school building.

“Government should pay heed to poor localities of the city and ensure protection particularly to school buildings”, he added.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has also taken notice of demolition of Jufelhurst School in Soldier Bazaar.

Inspector General (IG) Sindh A.D Khawaja has while appointing Dr. Aftab Pathan as investigating officer in the case said that no tolerance would be shown towards the culprits.

An FIR has also been lodged while police has been directed to probe in the matter.