KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Tuesday inaugurated 25 newly built streets and a model neighbourhood in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town, and criticised the mayor as “incompetent” over the megacity’s urban decline.
JI Karachi Chief Monem Zafar, JI District East chief Naeem Akhtar and Town Chairman Dr Fawad Ahmed jointly opened the projects, which also included three main roads in National Cement Society, UC-7, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town. Addressing the ceremony, the JI Karachi chief blamed the Sindh government and what he called the “occupying mayor” for the city’s poor state.
He said that, amid this dilapidated situation, the nine towns run by JI had become “islands of construction and development,” while the remaining towns had “gone off the radar.”
He said Gulshan Town had gifted 25 roads and a model neighbourhood to Cement Society. These, he added, are part of the town’s project to build 1,005 roads and streets covering 10 million square feet, which is moving ahead on a fast track.
The town has also restored all its parks and upgraded schools, he said, and admissions have risen by 100 percent. “Service, honesty and public service is the identity of Jamaat-e-Islami,” Monem Zafar also criticized the University Road project, built as part of the BRT Red Line, saying it had become a source of agony for residents. None of the government’s projects, he said, seemed likely to be completed on time.
Naeem Akhtar said the streets and roads had been built in Cement Society after 22 years. He recalled that during Naimatullah Khan’s tenure, when Abdul Wahab was Town Nazim, the area’s water problem had been resolved. Today, he said, road and street construction was continuing rapidly and new streetlights were being installed, and people in Gulshan Town were clearly feeling the change. Dr Fawad Ahmed said the three major roads and 25 smaller streets had been completed in just 11 days.
Citing the town’s slogan, “Come, let’s make Gulshan a Gulshan together,” he said the team was working day and night in public service. He urged residents to come forward and help protect other construction and development works so that their families could benefit from them.
The ceremony was attended by a large number of area residents along with the JI officials including Vice Town Chairman Ibrahim Siddiqui, area Nazim Muhammad Shahid, UC-8 Chairman Khizr Baqi, GNR Department’s Rashid Fayyaz, Engineer Muzaffar, Ward Councillor Talha Jadoon and Asif Abdul Karim.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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