KARACHI: The heritage building of 100-year-old Jufel Hurst Govt High School was demolished by land mafia on late Saturday, putting a question mark on the future of hundreds of students enrolled there.
According to the residents, some unknown men started demolishing the Jufel Hurst school principal’s residence within its premises, which alarmed them and they called the police.
The demolition was stopped for the time being but they returned on Sunday morning and completely razed the structure also damaging the school, area people said.
The Sindh government sprung into action after the media highlighted the issue. Education Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar visited the site and admitted the lapse and said the police have failed to perform its duty to secure the school and we would take action against those responsible.
Inspector General of Sindh Police A.D. Khawaja on Monday launched a “discreet enquiry” into the demolition of the school, with an order to probe what TV reports allege to be police involvement in the demolition of the school building’s boundary and a few of the rooms of the building, and the school principal’s residence within the premises, according to an official of the police.
In 1931, the Jufelhurst School was established by Sybil D’Abreo on nearly one acre of land in what was then known as Cincinnatus town, a Christian neighbourhood, in the city. The building was declared heritage by the Culture Department of Sindh a few years ago, when the also noted that the building was “dangerous”.