LIABRARY FOR WOMEN
AND A SPORTS COMPLEX

I will dilate upon two development projects envisaged especially for women and children. One of the projects could not be completed, while the other did materialize and proved to be one of its kind in the city. The intention was to build a library and a sports complex dedicated for women in every district of the metropolis to address the lack of amenities for the marginalized segments of the society. Adjacent to the Customs Club, a little far from Nipa Chowrangi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, was a sizable piece of land dedicated for a public library. The women councilors of Al-Khidmat in the City Council, namely Rehana Afroze, Shehla Inayat, Musfira Jamal, Sabira Shahid and Munawar Ikhlas suggested that we build a state-of-the-art, large library for the common good of the city’s women. They also advised that the Rs1.5million provided to every councilor for the development of the metropolis can be utilized for the purpose. They had the People’s Party and women councilors of other groups onboard to contribute for the cause. I liked the idea and we directed the Works & Services department to prepare the PC-I for the project.

The next few months saw expeditious work on the plan as maps were drawn out and our team and women councilors were given a detailed briefing by the consultant. Moreover, MNA Aisha Munawar sahiba announced to grant Rs15million from her fund for the Rs65million project. The foundation stone for the first Women’s Library Complex was laid in a graceful ceremony on January 20, 2004. Renowned poet educationist Prof. Inayat Ali Khan especially attended the event and orated some of his poems at the request of the participants. The construction began after a little while. I asked Abid Ilyas to have a good watch on the project and told the finance department to ensure timely payments to the contractor to avoid any delay.

Once Mustafa Kamal took reins as the nazim, he abolished the project and announced to build Nasir Hussain Shaheed Hospital instead. What interest can a group like MQM have in education? It’s understandable. In fact, their actions caused the worst decline of educational institutes which were providing free-of-cost, quality education to the children of every class of the society until 1986.

Women Sports Complex

It was either January or February of 2005 when Saif-ur-Rehman Grami, district officer of the Community Development Department, came to me with a file. He was accompanied by Qazi Saddruddin. He told me that the women’s sports complex in Gulshan-e-Iqbal block 3 has been facing a prolonged delay owing to lack of funds. He told me that if I took interest in the project, it could see the light of day within a year. He further said that being a project of its kind by the government, it will enable girls and women belonging to the middleclass to become its members and enjoy facilities like indoor games, gym and swimming pool. Intrigued, one of the participants in the meeting said: “A swimming pool and a gym for women. Will Naimatullah sahib inaugurate projects of this sort too?” I intervened and clarified that Islam allows women to engage in extracurricular activities of all sorts, under a certain framework of Shariah.

I asked both the visitors to have the project completed after acquiring the approval of its financial affairs from me and DCO as per the defined procedure. The project reached its completion after seven or eight months and the first women sports complex was formally inaugurated on June 21, 2005. The development also dispelled the notion held by a few that Jamaat-e-Islami has a narrowed perspective on women and wants to keep them inside homes at all times. Such criticism seems absurd and far-stretched when it is about a political party that has the most organized and active women wing. The party comprises well-educated women and in that era too, it was represented in the Parliament by learned women like Dr. Kausar Firdous, Aisha Munawar and Samiha Raheel Qazi.