Father of Nations portrait in a shambles

ISLAMABAD (INFN) - The portrait of the father of nation Quaid-e-Azam M. A. Jinnah is in shambles for quite few months near Koral Chowk, Gangal area on Islamabad Highway and no one seems to have moved an inch to take a notice of this 'not so serious matter so far. The picture of the leader, which was fixed on the right side of the Islamabad Highway in 2005 along with the golden words of Quid-e-Azam which were 'Unity, Faith and Discipline but today only these golden words are seen and the portrait has disappeared completely from there which is a matter of shame. The artist Jamal Shah showed a grave concern over the loss of the portrait of the national hero. He designed this portrait almost 5 years back, he told talking to INFN, It is a big dilemma of our nation that no maintenance of his memorable picture was ensured. Few months back it started disappearing but today it has completely disappeared. Just an empty board is seen along the golden words. Muhammad Luqman who was present there said, People come here for taking fresh air and like to stay in a cool environment but some among them also carelessly spoil the relics of time among which the picture stood so prominently. Most the boys damaged the picture of the Quaid which is a shame for us that we dont take care of a single thing of our national leader. It is reported that the area where this portrait was installed was of bad reputation. They have cut and removed that from the board without thinking that he is the father of the nation. Jamal Shah said that it was installed with the amount of 2 crore in the regime of President Pervaiz Musharraf in 2005 after a long confusion and perplexity with the government. The place for the installation of the portrait was changed thrice. Some issue from within rose, on one occasion CDA auctioned the land where the portrait was to be installed and on other occasion it was about to be fixed in front of Sindh House but the decision was postponed. On the third occasion during the dictators regime the front of the parliament side was decided so its new destination, but it also could not materialised. There has no place even for the golden words and portrait of the father of nation who has sacrificed his life for the sake of this beloved country and today he is even denied to have 2 to 3 meters of land. He said that after a long tiring effort Gangal area on Highway was chosen for installation finally. But this was also constructed after long delay as the area was often blocked due to VIP movement. Construction work was delayed. Despite repeated attempts the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was not available and ready to offer a comment regarding the maintenance of this portrait which has been thoroughly damaged now.

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