The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has declared the sealing of the Karachi Cotton Exchange building by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) as unlawful, asserting that the property is municipal land owned by the city government. Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab made the declaration amid an ongoing dispute over the ownership of the historic building on I.I. Chundrigar Road.
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In a formal letter addressed to the FIA, the mayor stated that, under the Constitution, he is the custodian of Karachi’s municipal assets and is duty-bound to protect them. He maintained that the recent joint operation by the FIA and ETPB, which claimed to have “recovered” the building as federal trust property, lacked both factual and legal basis.
سوچیں، صرف اپنے مفادکے لیے کتنے قوانین توڑے گئے ہیں:
1) کراچی نیبرہُڈ پارکس میں KMC کو ریونیو کمانے کی اجازت ہی نہیں، اس کے باوجود KMC نے اپنی جُرِسڈکشن سے باہر جا کر یہ کام کیا-2)اخبار میں اشتہار دینا یا علاقے کے مکینوں سے پیشگی اجازت لینا KMC پر لازم تھا، لیکن ایسا نہیں کیا… pic.twitter.com/VNwkY0xaT3
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The mayor referred to official records of the KMC Land Department, which, he said, confirmed that the property was municipal land transferred to the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) on July 31, 1936. He added that the lease was subsequently renewed by the KMC in 1982 and that municipal records clearly show the property stands in the name of the KCA.
Barrister Wahab also pointed out that a long-standing dispute between the KMC and the KCA regarding municipal charges had already been adjudicated in the Sindh High Court through Suit No. 293 of 2006. He noted that during those proceedings, the ETPB never asserted any ownership claim, which, according to him, undermines its current stance.
The mayor argued that if the property had been evacuee or trust property, the ETPB would have raised its claim decades earlier. He said the prolonged silence of the federal body strengthened the KMC’s position that the building never belonged to any evacuee entity.
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Highlighting the economic implications, the mayor stressed that the Karachi Cotton Association plays a vital role in Pakistan’s cotton sector. He said banks, textile mills, exporters, ginners and growers rely on the association’s daily cotton price fixation mechanism, and any disruption could negatively impact the national economy.