Dusit Residence Dubai Marina

Overlooking the famous Dubai Marina, the Dusit Residence is an exclusive collection of fully-serviced apartments within easy reach of Internet City, Media City and Knowledge Village. Guests of the Dusit Residence Dubai Marina can choose from a range of one, 2 and 3-bedroom luxury apartments. Each of the units is beautifully styled, classically decorated and features spacious open-plan living and dining areas, fully-equipped kitchens as well as the guest bedrooms. Many of the apartments feature private balconies and all offer stunning views over Dubai Marina and the beautiful waters of the Arabian Gulf. Recreational facilities at the Dusit Residence include an outdoor swimming pool, sauna and a fantastic spa specialising in Thai-style body treatments and massages. There is also a children’s play room for younger guests. There are a number of dining options at the Dubai Residence. Guests can enjoy all-day dining at the hotel’s main international restaurant or light snacks and pastries from the coffee shop. There are also numerous restaurants within the Dubai Marina complex.
Rooms: 146. Hotel Chain: Dusit Hotels & Resorts.

Towers Rotana - Dubai

Situated on the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai’s thriving new business district, Towers Rotana - Dubai is 10 minutes away from Dubai International Airport. The route to Dubai International Airport is linked by the express highway, and is also 5 minutes from Jumeira Beach Front. The hotel stands tall opposite the Dubai World Trade Centre and Exhibition Halls. You can find it minutes away from the Media and Internet City and within 20 km of the Jebel Ali Free Zone.
Rooms: 360. Hotel Chain: Rotana.

Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa Dubai

Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa has a beautiful location between landscaped gardens, right by the Arabian Gulf. The hotel has excellent indoor and outdoor facilities for business and leisure. It is within easy reach of the world-class Emirates Golf Club and The Montgomerie Golf Club, 10 minutes from Dubai Internet City or Mall Of The Emirate, and a 20-minute drive to the Dubai International Financial Centre. The pool and beach facilities offer three temperature-controlled swimming pools, tennis, squash, water sports, and a supervised Kid’s Club with play area and daily activities. The hotel has both indoor and outdoor meeting facilities that can accommodate up to 1,500 persons. Guests can relax in the Caracalla Spa, work out in the gym or enjoy the Arabian Gulf by kayak or boat, or perhaps go windsurfing or on a fishing trip.
Rooms: 500. Hotel Chain: Le Meridien

Arjaan - Dubai Media City

Located in the heart of Dubai’s Media City, the Arjaan offers a range of luxury self-catering apartments alongside the full services and facilities of a top hotel. The Arjaan Dubai Media City features 167 suites and apartments, all beautifully furnished in a contemporary Arabian-style and offering a wide range of modern amenities. Each apartment is equipped with luxury bedrooms, modern bathrooms, well-equipped kitchens and a living-dining area. Each apartment also features at least one private balcony with stunning views over the marina, Palm Island or the city. Guests of the Arjaan Dubai Media City can make the most of the hotel’s many facilities which include a temperature controlled outdoor swimming pool, a separate kid’s pool and a state-of-the-art fitness centre. The hotel’s courtyard features 2 cafés serving a range of snacks, salads, drinks and pastries. There is also a small souk at the hotel with a range of shops and a small food court. The Arjaan Dubai Media City is just a short distance from the Mall of the Emirates, the Emirates Golf Club, Jebel Ali Golf Club and Dubai Marina.
Rooms: 167. Hotel Chain: Rotana

Welcome to Abu Dhabi-first on a long road

We started of in England in the pouring rain and decided to get the Coach instead of the tube to Heathrow because we didn't want to get soaked.A dull but safe journey.I managed to get my International Driving Permit at Heathrow just in case I will need it in Australia. Nobody seems quite sure. Quite a long wait in terminal 3 but no trouble boarding.

Abu Dhabi Towers
However, at our age 6 hours on a plane overnight with a 3-4 hour jet lag at the other end was no fun. Neither of us slept that well but at least we were not too stiff the other end.Immigration took quite a long time to decide to let us in though I do not think there was any problem. Then we sat for ages as the only passengers in the Baggage reclaim until a helpful porter pointed out that the the bags had been taken off the belt and left on the floor long before we got there.We felt very foolish but to be fair they were hidden behind other bags. Got a taxi to the hotel on a very impressive 4 lane motorway which seemed like a race track. The Hotel originally couldn't find our booking-panic,panic- but it turned out they had the booking under my first name.

Dhow Harbour at Abu Dhabi
Thursday 13th October
We finally got into our room about 8.30 feeling very tired and wooly headed,jet lag I suppose.Found it really difficult to sleep and eventually went out for a walk about 3 pm.Big mistake! Although we should have known from our time in Saudi we had forgotten just how hot the Middle East can get.Must have been well over 30'C One good thing is that Vicki is walking well even coping with high kerbs. You really take your life in your hands crossing the road. they all drive very fast and blast the horns all the time and they do not stop for pedestrians. We decided to eat in the Hotel for convenience and then tried another walk after dusk which was a little cooler but with a wind like a blast furnace.Finally decided we had had enough and went to bed early with a sleeping tablet each.

Sruff in the Hotel atb Abu Dhabi
Friday 14th October
Woke up about 8.00 am feeling much better.Also feeling more positive about the trip. The way I felt yesterday I really wasn't sure I wanted to keep going but up for it again now. However I do think it is going to be very tiring at times.
We went for a walk before breakfast today and found it much more pleasant. Managed to find our way onto the Corniche which runs right along the waterfront. What is there now is spectacular and they are still building it. The view inland is amazing with lots of giant sky skyscrapers in glass and ceramics. Blue seems a favorite colour.The strange thing is at the bottom of the buildings there are lots of little shops and stores which don't really fit in. We have found that it is best to spend the hottest part of the day in our room reading and sleeping. This evening we our planning to get a taxi to the Gold Suk but more of that later.
We got to the Gold Suk but it wasn't quite what we expected.Plenty of gold but all in modern shops so we just had a quick look round and then went to the big, and I mean huge mall next door. Took ages to wander round but didn't buy anythinf, just had a meal and then walked through the main shopping streets and back to the hotel by taxi. Even in the evening it is incredibly hot and very busy since everyone comes out in the evening to break the Ramadan fast.
Saturday 15th October
Our last day and I have managed to persuade the hotel to extend our checkout to 5.oo pm since our flight doesn't leave until 11.30 and we didn't want to spend all day at the airport. We had another walk along the Corniche in the morning but the other way. Saw and enormous oil rig and and lots dhows in the Harbour and one under sail. The rest of the day was spent in the room because of the heat and we checked out about 5.00 with no problem BUT we thought we were going to die on the taxi ride to the airport.He drove at over 100mph in an old taxi and we were terrified and shaking when we got out. We managed to go to the wrong part of the airport and had some little porter running all over the place with our luggage. When we finally found the right place they said it was closed until 8.00pm. When we finally got to checkin it turned out someone had screwed up with the tickets and I had to run all over the airport sweet talking the guards to get a voucher to get us all the way to india because the existing ticket only took us to Muscat.
Finally got it all sorted and easy 40 min flight to Muscat. The transfer was OK but the plane from Muscat to Dehli was packed and we had big problems finding anywhere for our luggage. They wanted me to search a crowded plane for a space. No way. No sleep on the flight and having had two meals ( 2 planes!) and with four drunken teenagers being awkward a few rows down no a brilliant journey.

Welcome to Burj Al Arab

Arrive in absolute awe, stay individually inspired.
In it's relatively short tenure on the Dubai coastline this legendary and symbolic hotel has attracted international attention and awe, ensuring its place as one of the most photographed structures in the world. Designed to resemble a billowing sail, Burj Al Arab soars to a height of 321 metres, dominating the Dubai skyline. Illuminated at night by choreographed lighting representing water and fire – Burj Al Arab is simply individual, inspired, impressive.
This all-suite hotel reflects the very finest that the world has to offer. With your chauffeur driven Rolls Royce, discreet in-suite check-in, private reception desk on every floor and a brigade of highly trained butlers, you can be assured of the ultimate in personal service throughout your stay.

Honda to replace chief executive

Honda chief executive Takeo Fukui is to step down in June and be replaced by senior managing director Takanobu Ito.
Like most Japanese carmakers it has seen sales slide in the wake of the global downturn and tightening credit.
Japanese exporters, such as Honda, have also been hit by the strong yen. Rivals such as Toyota and Nissan have had to cut both production and jobs.
The move follows a similar change at the top of Toyota, where Akio Toyoda replaced Katsuaki Watanabe.
Honda saw its quarterly profit to December 2008 profit plummet by 90%
Japan's second-biggest carmaker is now expecting an 80bn yen ($856m; £579m) profit for the financial year which ends on 31 March, as against an earlier prediction of 185bn yen profit.
'Great honour'
Mr Fukui, 64, will have completed six years in charge when he steps down to become an adviser to Honda.
"I felt it was a great honour, but that was like 47% of my feelings," Mr Fukui said.
"The other 53% was this feeling that I can't take it because it was going to be so extremely difficult. I don't recall being all smiles."
Mr Fukiu said he was confident the company would pull through under its new boss.
Mr Ito, 55, is currently in charge of automobile operations, and previously headed the carmaker's research arm.
"Honda is at its core a fun company, where we hope customers buy cars with the same enjoyment we have in making them," Mr Ito said. "I want to raise motivation so that we have fun again."
'Hardships'
However, the Japanese carmaking industry's plight is causing considerable concern and there are fears it could push Japan deeper into recession.
"We are facing hardships that come once in a 100 years," Mr Ito said.
"My job is to come up with products that can pave the way for new times."
In December, Mr Fukui, a motor racing fan, announced that the firm would pull out of Formula One racing to channel the funds instead to the development of a new generation of cars.
Honda's shares closed down 3.8% at 2,160 yen

British film Slumdog Millionaire wins eight Oscars including best director and best picture, while Kate Winslet wins best actress.

Typical Costume Evidence

Dress has so fascinated society that a number of records are available to us such as this fashion plate from La Mode Illustrée. These records are either visual representation or written commentary.
On this page are the possible starting points for your research. Combine this with a look at the section on paintings and the bibliography.

Pakistan taking steps in right direction: Hillary

LAHORE: The United States has assured Pakistan of continued support for efforts to eliminate terrorism and extremism, a private TV channel reported on Saturday.According to the channel, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari in China and assured him Washington would continue to help Islamabad in its efforts to eradicate terrorism. Clinton also said she was looking forward to meeting Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Washington on Monday.

The auto sector

Obama said the two leaders were deeply concerned about the current state of the North American auto industry. He said his economic team was evaluating reports from Chrysler and General Motors on how the companies intend to move forward.
"One thing we know for certain is that there is going to have to be a significant restructuring of that industry," said Obama.
"When we provided our initial federal help to the auto industry, Prime Minister Harper stepped up and provided assistance that was commensurate with the stake that Canada has in the auto industry," he said.
"It’s going to be very important for our government to co-ordinate closely with the Canadian government in whatever approach that we decide to take. And we’re committed to doing that.”
Harper said Canada has also been concerned by the "thickening" of the U.S.-Canada border caused by increased security since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. and the impact it has had on trade.
"The key is to look at how we can look at security in a way that does not inhibit commerce and social interaction," Harper told reporters.
Canadian businesses have complained that some of the security measures enacted by the United States along the border in recent years have hurt cross-border commerce.
Obama said the leaders discussed how they might use the countries' economic stimulus packages to ease "bottlenecks" on the border.
"I think four years from now, relations between Canada and the United States will be even stronger," Obama said.

I want to grow trade, not contract it: Obama

On his first foreign trip as president of the United States, Barack Obama welcomed efforts by Canada to strengthen the economy and said the two neighbours would work to strengthen the auto industry.
"The work that's being done by this government to stimulate the economy on this side of the border is welcomed," Obama said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"I’ve provided Prime Minister Harper with an assurance that I want to grow trade and not contract it," he said.
Cross-border trade, Obama-style
Obama picked up a little Canadiana on his way back to the Ottawa airport.
He took a detour to Ottawa's Byward Market to pick up a BeaverTail. The pastries are dough cooked in canola oil and covered with different toppings, including cinnamon, sugar, chocolate sauce and maple syrup, and in this case, a whipped-cream "O" in the president's honour.
He plans to eat it at home in the White House.
He also bought some cookies, a keychain and a scarf for his wife.
"We concur on the need for immediate, concerted action to restore economic growth and to protect workers and families hit hardest by the recession through lowering taxes, ensuring access to credit, and unleashing spending that sustains and stimulates economic activity," Harper said.
The news conference was short on detail, especially since Obama has caused some nervousness in Canada by promising during the presidential campaign to renegotiate North American Free Trade Agreement, a pact among the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
And the "Buy American" provision in the $787 billion US economic recovery plan requires that only U.S.-made iron, steel and manufactured goods be used for public works projects receiving money from the package. However, Obama has acknowledged previously that any purchases must be in line with international trade treaties, such as NAFTA.
Harper said NAFTA gives both countries some leeway in domestic buying but both leaders said as economies around the world face challenges, it's important for the U.S. and others to resist calls for protectionism.
Stimulus packages
"If we pursue stimulus packages, the goal of which is only to benefit ourselves, or to benefit ourselves, worse, at the expense of others, we will deepen the world recession and not solve it," said Harper.
'It’s going to be very important for our government to co-ordinate closely with the Canadian government in whatever approach that we decide to take.'— U.S. President Barack Obama
"We have agreed to stimulus measures not just to stimulate our own economies but recognize that we have a synchronized global recession that requires policies that will not just benefit ourselves but benefit our trading partners at the same time," said Harper.
"The trade challenges we face in North America are common trade challenges," said Harper. "They’re not challenges between countries."
Harper pointed out that in the Canadian stimulus package, some duties were removed on imported goods

I want to grow trade, not contract it: Obama

Vonn sets American record with World Cup victory

Lindsey Vonn won the women's super-G World Cup event in Tarvisio, Italy, on Sunday, setting a new mark for World Cup victories by an American skier.
The win gives her 19, one more than the previous record held by Tamara McKinney. Vonn came close to setting the mark in the previous two days, finishing second in the super-combi on Friday and second again in the downhill on Saturday.
"I was fighting all weekend for this and to finally get it on the last day is really special," Vonn said. "This is something I've been working my whole life for."
Vonn finished with a time of 1:21.72 on the Prampero course. It was .51 seconds faster than Fabienne Suter of Switzerland, who finished second. Tina Maze of Slovenia was third.
"It was a good weekend," Vonn said. "I got a lot of points for the overall."
The 24-year-old defending world champ increased her lead at the top of overall standings to 299 points over Maria Riesch, who sits in second.
Vonn was racing with a specially designed splint on her right hand. She cut her thumb on a broken champagne bottle while celebrating her downhill and super-G wins during the world championships.
Kelly VanderBeek of Kitchener, Ont., was the top Canadian, finishing seventh.
"I'm quite happy with my result given that I made a little mistake at the top of the super-G course," she said. She was eighth in the downhill on Saturday.
Emily Brydon, of Fernie, B.C., finished in a tie for 12th.
"I had very good speed at the top of the course but then made a costly mistake near the finish," Brydon said. "It's disappointing because I probably could have been much closer."
Britt Janyk of Whistler, B.C., finished in 34th and Emilie Desforges of Montreal was 40th.

Gas explosion kills 74 miners in northern China

A gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in northern China on Sunday, killing at least 74 miners and trapping dozens, state media said.
Another 114 men were sent to hospital, with six in critical condition, the official Xinhua news agency said. Most of the injured miners were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, it said.
The pre-dawn blast occurred while 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, Xinhua said.
A hospitalized miner, Xue Huancheng, was quoted as saying that he remembered being ordered to flee because the ventilation system had broken down.
"At that time power supply underground was cut off and we had to walk," he said, adding that he fainted as he was about to reach the exit after walking about 40 minutes.
It was the deadliest Chinese coal mine accident in more than a year. In December 2007, 105 people died in a mine explosion, also in Shanxi province.
Despite repeated assurances of safety improvements, China's coal mining industry remains the most dangerous in the world.
About 3,200 miners died in accidents in 2008, a 15 per cent improvement over the previous year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2009/02/090220_china.shtml

In China, a survey of multinational companies has found that 70% of them plan to cut recruitment this year.

HRCP wants probe into Balochistan disappearances

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) called upon the government on Friday to immediately set up a high-powered and independent commission to deal with disappearance in Balochistan, release any people in unacknowledged custody of state agencies, and help secure the release of the UNHCR official, John Solecki.
In a statement issued here, the commission said: ‘The case of the abduction of the UNHCR official, Solecki, and the demand by his kidnappers for the release of a large number of Balochistan people, including many women, continues to assume ever more serious dimensions.’
It has almost been three weeks since Mr Solecki was kidnapped and every passing day increases apprehensions about his safety. At the same time the group that claims to be holding him has issued a list of 867 involuntarily disappeared people, including over 100 women. A separate list of 138 women also has been released and it contains addresses of 76 women and the dates of their ‘arrest’.
The HRCP statement reads that whatever one may think of the authenticity of these lists, it is obvious that the situation created by the claim of disappearance of so many women is far more serious than it had so far been assumed. It is the first time the people, at least outside Balochistan, have learnt about the disappearance of Baloch women. Even if the list is partly correct, it should make all politicians and civil society defenders of the oppressed hang their heads in shame.
In this situation, the government cannot sit with folded hands, says the commission, adding that every effort must be made to assuage the Baloch people’s feeling of outrage. While attempts to secure Mr Solecki’s release through negotiations should continue, the federal government must immediately set up a commission, with Balochistan adequately represented on it, to investigate the cases of all missing people and secure the release of all those who are found in unauthorised detention.
The commission should have the power to summon any state employee and grant appropriate relief. Even before the commission is formed, it is necessary to order all state agencies to immediately disgorge anyone held in their custody or show cause for holding him or her.
This is necessary to serve as proof of government’s earnestness in trying to heal the festering sore the issue has become, said the HRCP

National interest

PATRIOTISM and ‘national interest’ are amorphous ideas that defy definition. Dictionaries equate patriotism with a love of your country and a willingness to defend it, but that only lands us in even murkier territory. Besides implying a person’s affinity for the land where he or she was born or raised, what exactly does ‘love of your country’ mean? Does it make a citizen duty-bound to expose the nation’s most deep-rooted and abhorrent problems or to hush them up so that the country’s image is not tarnished? Then there is the question of defending the country. Battlefield combat and fighting off invaders is the preserve of the military. But on the civilian level, are Pakistanis obliged to defend their country in the face of criticism even if the case for the defence is based on denial or half-truths? Some say that patriotism and national interest, as defined by the entrenched elite, involves going about life with blinkers on, ignoring the inequity, injustice, hypocrisy and religious bigotry that, unfortunately, are the hallmarks of today’s Pakistan. Others, usually those who benefit most from the system as it stands, disagree. We should count our blessings and focus on what is good, they insist, instead of highlighting the country’s shortcomings however grave they may be. These are deep waters, for one man’s meat is another’s poison.
The media at large was asked at a seminar on Thursday to question the definition of national interest. As one speaker put it, 'there are many centres of power — [the] army, politicians, agencies, religious groups and the government — and they define and redefine national interest from their own perspectives.' This assessment is spot on. Vested interest has long been conflated in Pakistan with the public or national good, to the political or monetary enrichment of the powerful and the detriment of the people. This was inevitable in a country that has been ruled by military dictators and inept or corrupt politicians in the grip of delusions of grandeur. Some, it could be argued, didn’t really lose touch with reality, as it so often happens with those entombed in the corridors of power and surrounded by sycophants. They were just individuals with nobody’s interest at heart except their own.
Questioning national interest is one thing. Defining it, for reasons outlined at the outset, is another matter altogether. We are citizens of a country whose very identity is still open to question some 62 years after independence. Do we lean towards the Middle East or the immediate east or are we somehow unique in ourselves? Some soul-searching is in order if we are to escape the web of deceit and deception that has imprisoned us and our country. Patriotism, after all, can be the last refuge of scoundrels

‘I Own Karachi’ — and can sell it!

KARACHI, this increasingly ravaged city, has a dire history of the conversion of amenity plots to commercial and residential use.
Virtually every ‘ruler’ or administrator has left his mark on the exploding metropolis by giving away what was not his to give — public spaces and civic-use plots that were planned by experts for the common good.
At the Corporate Summit on Climate Change held in Karachi last Thursday, the city nazim Mustafa Kamal told a gathering of some 200 businessmen, industrialists, environmentalists, academics and NGOs that he had learnt that day for the first time of the importance of the environment. He admitted to being unfamiliar with the Environment Protection Act 1997 and with the effects of climate change.
He welcomed an offer from Leadership for Environment & Development Pakistan to assist him in evaluating his development strategy and his proposed solutions to the city’s problems, including mass transportation, treatment of 400 million gallons per day of raw sewage presently being dumped into the sea, and the management of 10,000 tons of garbage generated daily.
Coincidentally, whilst the nazim was speaking at the DHA Golf Club, members of the MQM were passing a City Council resolution at the KMC Hall, barely eight miles away, converting over 40 acres of amenity space at Sewage Treatment Plant-2 in Mehmoodabad (located at N24o51’6’, E67o04’27’ on Google-Earth) into a housing colony.
This was done despite the protests of opposition members who foresaw ‘horrible devastation’ if land assigned for a treatment plant expansion was swallowed up. They explained that many previous attempts to misuse and convert amenity spaces had been struck down by the courts.
In July 2008, a similar illegal conversion (‘commercialisation’) of a 2.5-acre space on the Clifton beach was attempted by the City Council treasury benches (over the objections of the opposition members) for use as a five-star hotel-cum-shopping complex. Earlier this month, a blitz of ads in the press announced the auction of the beach plot for a reserved price of Rs119 crores.
With seven others, I filed a case in the high court of Sindh. It was explained to Justice Gulzar Ahmed that Clifton was the only beach promenade in the city, and was protected under law as an amenity space to be used for public recreation. On recognising the merit in the argument the good judge suspended the auction that was to be held on Feb 17, and issued notice to the city government. Now, residents of the area, especially those with beach-front apartments, must join the fray to protect the environment and the beach.
Over the past three years, our City Council under the slogan ‘I Own Karachi!’ has passed a number of resolutions converting the status of parks, playgrounds, public building plots and amenity spaces to residential and commercial use. Auctions or encroachment/conversion of such spaces are the order of the day. I have attempted on several occasions to bring these flagrancies of the law to the notice of Nazim Mustafa Kamal.
In some instances, individuals and community groups in affected areas have filed petitions in the high court and have obtained ad-interim stays. Herewith a partial list of amenity spaces in the city under attack by various mafias.
Kashmir Road — China Ground (five acres); Kashmir Road — KMC Sports Complex (2.5 acres); 148/1 Tunisia Lines — Webb Ground (five acres); ST-1 North Nazimabad (two acres); North Nazimabad — Green Belt (1.5 acres); K-28/108 — Gutter Baghicha (480 acres); KDA Scheme No.32 — Kidney Hill Park (62 acres); Mehmoodabad — TP-2 (40 acres); ST-10, ST-9/1, ST-9/16 Gulistan-i-Jauhar (one acre); ST-9 Block-A North Nazimabad — Bagh-i-Baber (three acres).
ST-5/1 Block-E North Nazimabad — Hazoori Bagh (1.35 acres); ST-5/2 Block-E North Nazimabad (2.03 acres); ST-5/4 Block-E North Nazimabad (two acres); ST-4 Block-D North Nazimabad — Bagh-i-Dilafroz (three acres); ST-1 Block-1 North Nazimabad — Bagh-i-Dilkhusha (three acres); Block-L Sector 11 Orangi Township — Al-Mehran Ground; ST-3/B Block-6 Federal ‘B’ Area (one acre); ST-5 Block-14 Gulshan-i-Iqbal — DC (East) Office (8.3 acres).
ST-36 Block-3 Clifton — Clifton Beach Promenade (2.5 acres); ST-13 Sector-6/F Block-6-F Korangi — Mehran Town (2.27 acres); ST-14 Sector-5 Block-6 Korangi — Mehran Town (2.26 acres); ST-15 Sector-5 Block 6-F Korangi (0.87 acres); ST-17 Sector-5 Block 6-F Korangi (0.41 acres); ST-18 Sector-5 Block 6-F Korangi (0.41 acres); ST-20 Sector-5 Block 6-F Korangi (one acre); ST-21 Sector-5 Block 6-F Korangi (0.95 acres).
To repeat, as has been repeated time and again, amenity plots and spaces are established for the public welfare and common good of all citizens. They cannot be converted or used for other purposes.
The very concept of establishing a housing colony on an amenity park plot is an anathema, especially in a situation where there is a severe paucity of open spaces, parks and playgrounds for the burgeoning population of this city.
When Enrique Penalosa, the well-known and well-regarded former mayor of Bogota, Colombia, visited Karachi some weeks ago he rightly asked what our future generations of congested city residents will be able to do when they find that we have greedily occupied and converted most of our parks, playgrounds and open spaces. What will they think of us, their forebears?
That we were uncaring, selfish and rapacious, our greed for money never slaked? He pointed out the obvious fact that wealth and other assets can be created in future, but eaten-up open spaces and parks once meant for the beneficial use of citizens can never be recreated.
If the city government needs money to run its functions, it must be raised through taxes or other legitimate means, not through the illegal sale of land notified for amenity and public purposes.
My team and I are tired of battling increasing gangs of marauders determined to lay waste to Karachi — as millions of citizen bystanders, who should know better, look on silently. Perhaps the superior courts will take suo moto notice of this rape of the city and ask why the applicable laws are being brazenly flouted. Perhaps the ‘silent majority’ will become ashamed of their apathy and act.