Following a decision by Islamabad authorities to seal Centaurus Mall on the night between Monday and Tuesday, local traders with businesses in the establishment have taken to the streets in protest, demanding the mall be opened.
A notice placed outside the mall read, “The premises has been sealed on account of non-conforming use by order of director building control-city, CDA (Capital Development Authority),” while the mall was cordoned off with barbed wire and police vans were stationed nearby.
In protest, traders and business owners blocked Jinnah Avenue and the load leading up to the Parliament. They demanded that the mall be opened immediately otherwise they will ‘shut down all of Islamabad’.
Video footage from Islamabad shows huge crowds gathered outside the mall. CDA officials reportedly escorted mall staff outside.
سینٹورس مال کی عمارت سیل، سی ڈی اے نے عملے کو باہر نکال دیا
مال کی بندش کی وجہ سے اسلام آباد کے تاجروں نے جناح ایونیو بند کر دیا،پارلیمنٹ کو جانے والی سڑک مکمل بلاک،سینٹورس کو کھولا جائے ورنہ پورا اسلام آباد بند کر دیں گے، تاجر رہنماء pic.twitter.com/LBkLSg2tGL
— Naya Daur Urdu (@nayadaurpk_urdu) December 6, 2022
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders are insistent that the closure of the mall was an act of ‘political revenge’. They attribute the act to a spat between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Azad Jammu and Kashmir premier Sardar Tanveer Ilyas who is the owner of the mall.
The alleged spat took place on Monday, when PM Shehbaz was inaugurating a project on the Mangla Dam Hydroelectric Power Plant, which is situated in the Mangla region of AJK, and failed to mention the ‘sacrifices of the Kashmiri people’ in his inaugural address.
Following the event, Ilyas in a press conference said that PM Shehbaz’s failure to mention the Kashmiris’ sacrifices in his address was the equivalent of “insulting” the Kashmiri people.
After the mall was sealed on Monday night, PTI chairman Imran Khan took to Twitter to register his displeasure.
Sealing of Centaurus Mall by PDM mafia in response to PM AJK censuring SS for not mentioning sacrifices of Kashmiris shows there is law of the jungle in Pak since last 8 mths. Sends negative signals to Kashmiris too. Q for our Honourable Judges: Are they not upholders of the Law?
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) December 6, 2022
