Football in Lyari

The newly-built Kakri Sports Complex is a wonderful facility built by the Sindh government with active cooperation of the World Bank. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar Park, also known as Kakri Ground, has been redeveloped and remodelled to facilitate the local sporting talent of Lyari.
However, when some people tried to use the facility, they could not. The word out on the street is that one must have a membership to use the multi-sports facility. The Kakri Ground was an asset for local football clubs, and before the finalisation of the reconstruction plan, they were taken into confidence that the football ground would be handed over to them. In the past, People’s Stadium was built by the provincial government in 1996 by demolishing four football training pitches that had left more than 20 clubs without a playing field. This led to the discontinuation of football activities. The stadium had been built to supposedly promote sports and host international football matches, but within years of its completion, it was occupied by law-enforcement agencies for keeping an eye on the law and order situation in the area. If the authorities have planned, just as they did in the past, to deprive the local clubs of training facilities, the area residents, especially the footballers, would rather not have such ‘development’. Destroying football in the name of promoting the game is seriously criminal. Trust me, it really is.
ORANGZEB SHAHMIR
KARACHI