Shah Jahan Mosque, Thatta

The Shah Jahan Mosque is located in Thatta, Sindh province, Pakistan. It was built during the reign of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

History

The mosque was built in 1647, during the reign of Mughal King Shah Jahan, as a gift to the people of Sindh for their hospitality. It has been on the tentative UNESCO World Heritage list since 1993

Architecture

The mosque is built with red bricks with blue coloured glaze tiles probably imported from the town of Haala, Sindh. It has a total of 93 domes.

It was built keeping acoustics in mind. A person speaking on one end of the dome can be heard from the other end when the speech exceeds 100 decibels.

Aarti Chabria Indian Sindhi actress

Aarti Chabria

Aarti Chabria (Sindhi: ہہٚڑٳز اھٻٽر, Telugu: పేరతి ఛాబరఁఋలా, Hindi: आरती छाबरिया) (born 1982) is an Indian actress and a former model, who appears in Hindi, Telugu, Punjabi and Kannada movies.

Early life

Born in Mumbai, Chabria comes from a Hindu family.Her father and brother are both doctors.She studied in Queen Mary School and later did Commerce from HR college. Did over 300 commercial advertisements including press ads all through her childhood.

Career

Aarti Chabria began modeling at 3 years of age. She was the Farex Baby, and appeared in over 300 commercials including Maggi Noodles, Pepsodent tooth paste, Clean and Clear face wash, Amul Frostick ice cream, LML Trendy Scooter, Krack Cream.

After completing her education, Chabria shot to fame when she was crowned "Miss India Worldwide 2000" in November 1999. She then appeared in the music videos - "Harry Anands" Teri Chaahat Mein, "Sukhwinder Singh's" Nasha Hi Nasha Hai, "Adnan Sami's" Roothe Hue Hai Kyo (from album Tera Chehra) and another by "Avdhoot Gupte" Madhubala

Her debut Bollywood film was Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai (2002) did poorly at the box office. Before that she appeared in a cameo role in a telefilm called Akansha in 1989 as a child artist and Lajja in 2001 as Danny Denzongpa's daughter opposite Sharman Joshi. These two movies were commercial failures. She then worked alongside Akshay Kumar in the film Awara Paagal Deewana (2002) and she was appreciated for her supporting role. Following that there was / Raja Bhaiya (2003), a commercial failure, opposite Govinda where she essayed the role of a girl who looses her memory and has a mental level of a 5 year old. In Shaadi No 1 (2005), she acted opposite Fardeen Khan and this was a critical and commercial failure. In Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007) Directed By Apoorva Lakhia and Produced by Sanjay Gupta, Aarti played the role of a muslim girl "Tannu" who's a bar dancer in love with an underworld gangster played by Tushar Kapoor. This was a supporting role in this multi starer film. She featured in two item songs in this film and made a name for herself as an item girl. She acted in Daddy Cool (2009) A film by Inder Kumar, opposite Suniel Shetty as a Christian housewife, 'Dus Tola (2013) opposite Manoj Bajpayee as a village belle Suvanalata Shastri in love with a Goldsmith. Both these films were critical and commercial failures. She has always been known to try very hard to achieve success.

Aarti has also acted in a few telugu and Kannada movies such as Okariki Okaru , Gopi Godameda pilli , Intlo Shreemati Veedhilo Kumari (remake of Priyadarshans hindi film Hungama) , Aham Premasmi Directed by Ravichandra , Santha opposite Shiv Raj Kumar, Rajni opposite Upendra.

Aarti essayed the role as "Preeto" in a Punjabi Movie Viyah 70 kms which released in Sept 2013

She was the winner of the fourth season of Fear Factor - Khatron Ke Khiladi in 2011.

Aarti has also studied Film Making at the New York Film Academy in New York in 2012

Contestant on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (season 6) 2013 who was praised for her performances by all three judges for her sincerity, perfection in dance style, grace, and beauty. She was injured on the show, but still continued with true competitive spirit without giving up.

Filmography[edit]

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
2001	Lajja	Sushma	Hindi	Cameo Role
2002	Awara Paagal Deewana	Tina Chippa	Hindi
	Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai	Naina Dixit	Hindi
2003	Raja Bhaiya	Pratibha Sahni / Radha	Hindi
	Okariki Okaru	Swapna Rao	Telugu
2004	Intlo Srimati Veedhilo Kumari	Anjali	Telugu
	Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo	Trilok's wife	Hindi	Special appearance
2005	Aham Premasmi	Apsara	Kannada
	Shaadi No. 1	Rekha Kothari	Hindi
	Ssukh	Bhavna Rakesh Verma	Hindi
2006	Teesri Aankh: The Hidden Camera	Aarti	Hindi
2007	Shootout At Lokhandwala	Tarannum 'Tanu'	Hindi
	Partner	Nikki	Hindi	Special appearance
	Anamika	Anamika Shroff / Anamika V. Sesodia	Hindi	Special appearance
	Santha	Santha's girl friend	Kannada
	Heyy Babyy	Ali's ex-girlfriend	Hindi	Special appearance
2008	Dhoom Dadakka	Shivani Sawant	Hindi
	Chinatakayala Ravi	Item song opposite Venkatesh	Telugu
	Gopi – Goda Meedha Pilli	Monica	Telugu
2009	Daddy Cool	Nancy Lazarus	Hindi
	Toss	Sasha	Hindi
	Rajani	Sandhya	Kannada
	Kisse Pyaar Karoon	Natasha	Hindi
2010 2013	Milenge Milenge	Sofiya Rajeev Arora	Hindi
	Dus Tola Vyah 70 km	Suvarnalata Shastri	Hindi Punjabi

Television

Year	TV Show	Notes
2013	Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (season 6)	Paired up with Cornel Rodrigues
2011	Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi (season 4)	WINNER

The Eduljee Dinshaw Charitable Dispensary in Saddar, Karachi was commissioned in 1882

The Eduljee Dinshaw Charitable Dispensary in Saddar, 1882 

Magnificent. Carefully detailed. Strategically placed. First major building in Karachi which was built in Italianate style. The Eduljee Dinshaw Charitable Dispensary is not only a classical landmark but a reminder of Karachi’s religious and ethnic diversity.

Amidst saddar’s hustle bustle, it is quite possible that you may miss the important landmark. So keep your eyes open when you reach the intersection of Preedy Street and Raja Ghazanfar Ali Road (Somerset Street). Here next to Khyber Hotel you will find the dispensary. Just like most of the buildings built under British raj the dispensary has a central clock with metallic roof. It proudly displays 1882 as year of its inauguration. It was designed by James Strachan, the Municipality engineer at that time. It was commissioned by the well-known philanthropist Eduiji Dinshaw.

The dispensary is a pleasant getaway from the crowded feeling forced by the uncontrolled commercialization in Saddar. Compare the picture from 19th century with the one which Karachi Walla took and mourn the sad demise of elegance from our urban structures.

Radio Pakistan

"This is Radio Pakistan and I am Jehan Ara Saeed ..."
Between 1950 and 1973, heard before each English news bulletin

QSL card showing frequencies for all stations (1954)

At Independence, Karachi did not have a radio station. In 1948, Radio Pakistan Karachi Station started operations from the Intelligence School building on Queens Road (now M.T. Khan Road). A year later, it moved to its current location on M.A. Jinnah Road. Its first Director General was Zulfiqar Ali (Z.A.) Bukhari (1904 - 1975). In 1955, the National Anthem was sung for the first time by a group of 11 major singers including Ahmed Rushdi, Shameen Bano, Kaukab Jahan, Najam Ara, Akhtar Abbas and Anwar Zaheer (ref: Pakistani Embassy in Japan). A 2007 fire destroyed its archives and other historical material.

Amongst some of this Station's well known personalities who started out then are singers: Ahmed Rushdi (1934 - 1983) and S.B. John (born 1934); television, stage and radio artist: Mahmood Ali (1928 - 2008), better known for portraying the Maulvi (Cleric) in PTV's Taleem-e-Balighan (Adult Education); children's programme specialist and Nigar Award winner, Munni Baji (1929-2007) and English newscaster, Jehan Ara Saeed (died 2007).

Ahmed Rushdi (1958) 

In 1954, Ahmed Rushdi sang Bunder Road se Kemari (From Bunder Road to Kemari) for a children's programme. He would later gain fame as a playback singer. Amongst his popular songs are Akele na jaana (Don't go alone) and Ko ko Korina from Pakistan's first Platinum Jubilee (75 weeks running in cinemas) film, Armaan (1966) starring Waheed Murad and Zeba, for which he also won the Nigar Award.

1960 RADIO PAKISTAN BUILDING,KARACHI

Hindu Gymkhana, Karachi Sindh

The Hindu Gymkhana

The Hindu Gymkhana (Sindhi: هندو جمخانه, Urdu: ہندو جِمخانہ) was the first public building in Karachi to boldly adopt the Mughal-Revival style. The building established in 1925, Its located at Sarwar Shaheed Road in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.

The Hindu Gymkhana was a club for the Hindu upper classes, who formed a strong commercial elite in Karachi in the years before Independence in 1947. The Hindu community and Seth Ramgopal Gourdhanandh Mohatta contributed money for its construction.

Building structure

The building is designed by Muslim architect Agha Ahmed Hussain. The plan and massing was based on the tomb of Itamad-ud-Daulah (1628) in Agra. The building is small in size and consists primarily of a hall and some smaller rooms used for administrative purposes. Stone for the 2-foot-thick (0.61 m) walls was acquired in Bijapur. The roof line is defined by delicate massing of cupolas and balustrades directly influenced by Akbar's Fatehpur Sikri. The octagonal corner towers framing the projecting central jharoka are capped with chattris. Smaller chattris highlight the corners of the projecting porch that carry the drooping bangladar roof used in Emperor Akbar's period. The projecting chajjas are supported by ornamental brackets. The cupolas of the chattris are reinforced concrete and the walls are dressed in Gizri stone. Some of the carved elements are of Jodhpur stone.

The building's condition has deteriorated over the years, and it was going to be demolished in 1984. This was prevented by an intervention by the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan. Hindu Gymkhana now houses the National Academy of Performing Arts.

High Court of Sindh

 High Court of Sindh

The High Court of Sindh is the highest judicial institution of Sindh province. Established in 1906, it is situated at provincial capital Karachi. Apart from being the highest Court of Appeal for Sindh in civil and criminal matters, the Court was the District Court and the Court of Session in Karachi.

History

On 21 August 1926 the Sindh Courts Act (Bom. VII of 1926) was passed into law-making provision for the establishment of a Chief Court for the Province of Sindh. On the coming into operation of Part III of the Government of India Act, 1935, on 1 April 1937, Sindh became a separate Province and the Judges of the Court of Judicial Commissioner of Sindh were appointed by Royal Warrant by the British Government.

At the time of establishment of the High Court of West Pakistan the number of the Judges of the Karachi Bench was almost the same but subsequently it was increased to 15 and on separation ofSindh & Balochistan High Court's 12 Judges were allocated to the Sindh High Court and 3 Judges to Balochistan High Court. The present approved strength of Judges is 28. However, the number of Judges appointed is 24.

Building Complex

The construction of existing main building was commenced in 1923, at an estimated cost of Rs. 39,75,248 but it was completed on 22-11-1929, at actual cost of Rs. 30,35,000. This building which was meant for 5 Judges with some provision for expansion in 1929 is now accommodating Benches in, Court Rooms and 18 Judges in Chambers. Some Judges have to hold Courts in Chambers. Besides, it also provides accommodation for the offices of the Attorney-General, Deputy Attorney-General, Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan Registry, Advocate-General, Sindh, Additional Advocate General, Sindh, Assistant Advocate General, Sindh and High Court Bar Library. Before shifting Supreme Court Registry from High Court premises two Court rooms and three Chambers were used by the Supreme Court Judges. When the Supreme Court comes to Karachi in bigger strength some more chambers were provided to the Judges of the Supreme Court.

In 1974, An Annexe Building on the North-East side of the compound of the High Court was constructed at a cost of Rs. 4.4 Millions but it did not ease the situation much, for it is accommodating the offices of this Court and also provides office accommodation for the Secretary, Ministry of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Standing Counsel, Official Assignee, Special Banking Court, Registry of the Federal Shariat Court and Sindh Bar Council. Thus, it will be seen that there is acute shortage of accommodation.

The provincial Government has allocated a token amount of Rs. One Lac during the current year for construction of Annexe Building of South-East of the present building in order to make the scheme as ongoing scheme. The building was estimated in 1984 to cost a sum of Rs. 13.35 millions. The cost now may go up slightly because of inflation. Unless the Federal Government provides funds or the Provincial Government give preference to the construction of this building and provide necessary funds, the building is not going to be completed within a year or two.

Bench

High Court of Sindh consists of a Chief Justice and 27 other Judges. A Judge of the High Court is appointed by the President after consultation with the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Governor of the Province and the Chief Justice of the High Court in which appointment is to be made. No person is appointed as a Judge of the High Court unless he is a citizen of Pakistan having forty years and has been an advocate of the High Court or has held a judicial office for ten years and has for a period of not less than three years served as or exercised the functions of a District Judge in Pakistan. A Judge of a High Court holds office until he attains the age of sixty-two years, unless he sooner resigns or is removed from office in accordance with the Constitution.

The principal seat of the High Court of Sindh is at Karachi with a Bench at Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana The High Court may has more Benches at other places as the Governor on the advice of the Cabinet and in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court may determine Jurisdiction.

PC0 25 March 1981

• Agha Ali Hyder-not offered oath under PCO as chief justice of Sindh High Court; took oath under PCO as judge of Federal Shariat Court
• Abdul Hayee Qureshi take oath under PCO
• Abdul Hafeez Memon Did not take oath under PCO
• Zaffar Hussain Mirza take oath under PCO
• Naimuddin Ahmed take oath under PCO
• S.A. Nusrat take oath under PCO
• G. M. Shah Did not take oath under PCO
• Ajmal Mian take oath under PCO
• Muhammad Zahoor-ul-Haq take oath under PCO
• Sajjad Ali Shah take oath under PCO
• Ghous Ali Shah take oath under PCO
• Dr. Tanzil-ur-Rehman, take oath under PCO
• Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui take oath under PCO
• Ghulam Muhammad Kourejo take oath under PCO
• Nasir Aslam Zahid take oath under PCO
• K. A. Ghani take oath under PCO
• Saleem Akhtar take oath under PCO

PC0 26 January 2000

• Nazim Hussain Siddiqi take oath under PCO was chief justice
• Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary take oath under PCO
• Ghous Mohammed Did not take oath under PCO
• Mushtaq Memon Did not take oath under PCO
• Rasheed Rizvi. Did not take oath under PCO
• Syed Deedar Hussain take oath under PCO
• Justice Amanullah Abbasi take oath under PCO
• Hamid Ali Mirza take oath under PCO
• Hameed Dogar take oath under PCO
• Syed Saeed Ashad take oath under PCO
• Abdul Ghani Shaikh take oath under PCO
• Mohammed Roshan Esani take oath under PCO
• S. A. Sarwar take oath under PCO
• Zahid Qurban Alvi, take oath under PCO
• Shabir Ahmed take oath under PCO
• Ata-ur-Rehman take oath under PCO
• Ghulam Rabban take oath under PCO
• Sarmad Jalal Usmani take oath under PCO
• Anwar Zaheer Jamali take oath under PCO
• S. A. Rabbani take oath under PCO
• M. Ashraf Leghari take oath under PCO
• Wahid Bux Brohi take oath under PCO
• Sabihuddin Ahmed take oath under PCO
• Rana Bhagwandas take oath under PCO
• Ghulam Nabi Soomro take oath under PCO
• Musheer Alam take oath under PCO

PC0 3 November 2007

• Sabihuddin Ahmed - Did not take oath under PCO was chief justice
• Sarmad Jalal Usmani -Did not take oath under PCO
• Anwar Zaheer Jamali -Did not take oath under PCO
• Musheer Alam -Did not take oath under PCO
• Mohammad Moosa K. Legari -take oath under Pco elevated to supreme court
• Zia Perwez - take oath under Pco elevated to supreme court
• Afzal Soomro -take oath under PCO became chief justice
• Rahmad Hussain Jaferi -Did not take oath under PCO
• Azizullah Memon -take oath under PCO
• Khilji Arif Hussain -Did not take oath under PCO
• Ameer Hani Muslim -Did not take oath under PCO
• Gulzar Ahmad -Did not take oath under PCO
• Maqbool Baqar -Did not take oath under PCO
• Munib Ahmad Khan -take oath under PCO
• Muhammad Athar Saeed -Did not take oath under PCO
• Yasmin Abbasey -take oath under PCO
• Mrs Qaiser Iqbal -take oath under PCO
• Ali Sain Dino Metlo-take oath under PCO
• Faisal Arab - Did not take oath under PCO
• Sajjad Ali Shah -Did not take oath under PCO
• Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui - take oath under PCO was additional judge
• Abdul Rashid Kolhoro - Did not take oath under PCO was additional judge
• Salman Ansari - Did not take oath under PCO was additional judge
• Arshad Siraj Memon - Did not take oath under PCO was additional judge
• Zafar Ahmad Khan Sherwani - Did not take oath under PCO was additional judge
• Mahmood Alam Rizvi - take oath under PCO was additional judge
• Abdul Rahman Farooq Pirzada - take oath under PCO was additional judge
• Additional Judges Appointed under PCO
• Khawaja Naveed Ahmed
• Qazi Khalid
• Rana Shamim
• Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan
• Syed Pir Ali Shah
• Bin Yamin
• Arshad Noor
• Dr Qamaruddin Bohra
• Ghulam Dastagir Shahani
• Farrukh Zia Sheikh
• Abdul Qadir Khan

Reappoinment of Judges

• After the general election and resignation of general musharaf ppp lead govt decided to reappoint judges under the 1973 constitution and given fresh oath some of the judges agreed to take fresh oath under constitution and reappointed on

27 August 2008 and 6 September 2008

• Reapointed in August 2008
• Anwer Zaheer Jamali - made chief justice
• Khilji Arif Hussain
• Ameer Hani Muslim
• Faisal Arab
• Sajjad Ali Shah
• Abdul Rashid Kolhoro
• Salman Ansari
• Zafar Ahmad Khan Sherwani
• Reappointed on 6 September 2008
• Sabihuddin Ahmed elevated to supreme court
• Sarmad Jalal Usmani elevated to supreme court
• Gulzar Ahmad
• Muhammad Athar Saeed

Restoration of Judges

After the long march of lawyer and opposion parties govt restored the deposed judiciary on 16 March 2009 only two judges of shc refused to accept reopointment and restored.

• Musheer Alam
• Maqbool Baqar

Former Chief Justices

• Mr. Justice Abdul Kadir Shaikh (01-12-1976 to 30-06-1979)
• Mr. Justice Ahga Ali Hyder ( 01-07-1979 to 24-03-1981)
• Mr. Justice Naimuddin Ahmed (21-01-1986 to 03-09-1988)

• Mr. Justice Ajmal Mian (04-09-1988 to 12-12-1989)
• Mr. Justice Sajjad Ali Shah (13-12-1989 to 04-11-1990)
• Mr. Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui (05-11-1990 to 21-05-1992)
• Mr. Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid (23-05-1992 to 15-04-1994)
• Mr. Justice Abdul Hafeez Memon (Acting Chief Justice)(16-04-1994 to 14-04-1996)
• Mr. Justice Mamoon Kazi (15-04-1996 to 04-11-1997)
• Mr. Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed (05-11-1997 to 04-05-1998)
• Mr. Justice Kamal Mansur Alam (05-05-1998 to 21-04-1999)
• Mr. Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui (22-04-1999 to 03-02-2000)
• Mr. Justice Syed Deedar Hussain Shah (04-02-2000 to 27-04-2000)
• Mr. Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad (28-04-2000 to 04-04-2005)
• Mr. Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed (05-04-2005 to 03-11-2007)
• Mr. Justice Afzal Soomro (03-11-2007 to 15-05-2008)
• Mr. Justice Azizullah M. Memon (Acting Chief Justice)(15-05-2008 to 27-08-2008)
• Mr. Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali (28-08-2008 to 02-08-2009)
• Mr. Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany (03-08-2009 to 13-02-2011)
• Mr. Justice Mushir Alam.
• Mr. Justice Maqbool Baqar (30.09.2013 till date)

Presently working Judges of Sindh High Court (As on 5th March, 2014)

Name of Judge, Date of Appointment & Date of retirement

• 1,Hon'ble Chief Justice Mr. Justice Maqbool Baqar, 27-08-2002, 04-04-2019
• 2 Hon'ble Senior Pusine Judge Mr. Justice Faisal Arab, 25-10-2005, 04-11-2017
• 3 Mr. Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, 25-10-2005, 13-08-2019
• 4 Mr. Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai, 25-09-2009, 04-04-2014
• 5 Mr. Justice Ahmed Ali M. Sheikh, 25-09-2009, 02-10-2023
• 6 Mr. Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, 25-09-2009, 06-02-2025
• 7 Mr. Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, 25-09-2009, 15-06-2025
• 8 Mr. Justice Munib Akhtar, 25-09-2009, 13-12-2025
• 9 Mr. Justice Nisar Muhammad Shaikh, 18-02-2010, 17-11-2014
• 10 Mr. Justice Muhammad Tasnim, 18-02-2010, 01-05-2018
• 11 Mr. Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, 18-02-2010, 01-02-2024
• 12 Mr. Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, 18-02-2010, 04-10-2026
• 13 Mr. Justice Nadeem Akhtar, 20-03-2012, 15-02-2024
• 14 Mr. Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, 20-03-2012, 07-10-2028
• 15 Mr. Justice Abdul Rasool Memon, 01-06-2012, 07-10-2018
• 16 Mr. Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, 01-06-2012, 04-02-2025
• 17 Mr. Justice Sadiq Hussain Bhatti, 01-06-2012, 13-12-2017
• 18 Mr. Justice Syed Muhammad Farooq Shah, 27-06-2012,30-09-2017
• 19 Mr. Justice Farooq Ali Channa, 27-06-2012, 19-01-2020
• 20 Mr. Justice Aziz-ur-Rehman, 27-06-2012, 03-03-2021
• 21 Mr. Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar, 27-06-2012, 31-12-2023
• 22 Mr. Justice Riazat Ali Sahar, 27-06-2012, 17-07-2028
• 23 Mr. Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, 27-06-2012, 08-08-2028
• 24 Mr. Justice Shaukat Ali Memon, 31-08-2013, 27-08-2022
• 25 Mr. Justice Shahnawaz Tariq, 31-08-2013, 01-02-2017
• 26 Mr. Justice Abdul Maalik Gaddi, 31-08-2013, 01-01-2021
• 27 Mr. Justice Nazar Akbar, 31-08-2013, 06-08-2021
• 28 Mr. Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar, 31-08-2013, 13-09-2025
• 29 Mr. Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput,31-08-2013, 15-10-2027

30 Mr. Justice Hassan Feroze, 31-08-2013, 01-08-2015

Karachi Landmarks – The Merewether Tower

Beautifully Carved. Elegantly Designed. Adorned with Mysterious Motifs. Merewether Tower is a well-known landmark. Or rather, a very well-heard one. Thousands pass by the intersection between MA Jinnah and II Chundrigar road where it stands proudly reminding us of Karachi’s glorious past. Very few ever take a second to contemplate on its existence. Why is there a David’s star on it? What are the two faces carved out on each side signifying?

Merewether Tower, or Tower as the conductors shout, cannot be missed by anyone coming from KPT building. It stands tall at the intersection leading to two of most famous and busiest thoroughfares. It was commissioned as a memorial for Sir William L. Merewether, who served as Commissioner of Sindh from 1867 to 1877. Few contest that it was built to honor Freemasons present in Karachi at that time. It was designed by a Municipality Engineer James Strachan and the foundation stone was laid by the Governor of Bombay, Sir James Fergusson in 1884. After eight years of construction, it was opened for public in 1892. The Memorial Tower stands on a platform 44 feet square and rises to a height of 102 feet. The clocks are 70 feet from the ground where each of the clock’s four faces is seven feet in diameter. The larger bell at the top announced hour mark while the smaller bells range at each quarter. They don’t. Anymore. Even if they had, it would have lost in the cacophony orchestrated by street vendors, bus drivers and conductors.

Come here on a Saturday or Sunday if you want to have an idle look at the monument. Park your car in one of the smaller streets on M.A. Jinnah road. Make your way past the vendors. Enter the gate and ignore the complaints of gardener if he makes noise. Technically no one can stop you from visiting the place. Feel the tyranny of time the landmark has endured. See the most prominent symbol of Judaism marked proudly on the monument and graffiti below it. Announcing that the writer does not acknowledge its existence. Different ways of different people making their point. The David’s star may not have to do anything with Judaism and might be just another motif. The way its been used by Persian craftsmen on Mughal monuments like Agra fort and Humayun’s tomb. A small lawn is maintained by couple of gardeners. Sporadically a passerby decides to explore it. It has been repaired during Naimatullah’s nazimship. But it does not stop it from suffering from the pollution.

Visit it. It may force authorities to take better care of the landamark.