Al-Markaz-e-Islami be restored to original status, orders SC

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered restoration of the original status of Al-Markaz-e-Islami, situated near Aisha Manzil, vacating the stay order previously granted in favour of the owner of the cinema established on the premises.

The direction came on an application filed by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman who had challenged the conversion of Al-Markaz-e-Islami into a cultural centre and later into a cinema.

The court had earlier allowed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s administrator to take punitive action against those responsible for negotiating a contract for opening of a cinema inside the Islamic centre.

The SC had taken suo moto notice on the application of JI chief Naeemur Rehman who had alleged that former mayo Mustafa Kamal had changed the status and name of the Islamic centre in 2008.

He submitted that the former city government allowed conversion of the Islamic centre into a cinema in 2010 and even set up Shanzay auditorium on the top floor of the building where musical and stage programmes were held on every evening.

The petitioner had informed the court that the idea to construct Al-Markaz-e-Islami with a library, an auditorium and an art gallery for fine arts based on Islamic culture was primarily conceived by a city mayor, Abdul Sattar Afghani, through a resolution on Dec 4, 1980.

Headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, the SC’s three member bench after hearing the case ordered restoration of the original status of Al-Markaz-e-Islami and directed the relevant authorities to take action against private contractor and former CDGK officials who were involved in opening cinema in the centre by referring the matter to NAB. The court directed the law officer to submit a compliance report within 15 days.