By: Kamran Khamiso Khowaja
THATTA: The unbridled land mafia is now eyeing the historical Black Mountain-the sign of beauty in the Kohistani mountainous range of district Thatta that has triggered commotion and resentment among the history buffs and people of different sections of life.
According to the information received here on Tuesday heavy machinery has been deployed by a few influential land grabbers to extract compact boulders from the mountain; the boulders are later crushed to produce gravels, iron ore, and stone granules. It was also reliably known through sources that a few influential land grabbers with the support of local high-ups were planning to set up a stone crushing plant that would further add to environmental hazards in the area.
The mountainous area stretching from Thatta to Hyderabad is famous across the country for its scenic beauty and Black Mountain known as Karo Jabal in local parlance is the central notion of that ravishing mountainous range but the current extraction has left an untoward effect on its beauty.
According to historian Jisarat Ilyas Jokhiyo over the years Black Mountain is of significant Importance but it gained country-wide attention after the incident of a plane crash that took place on the peak of the mountain on 13 December 1949. Sharing his views with this correspondent he said that reluctance of the Mines and Minerals department had given a free hand to these land grabbers for unabated extraction of minerals. He warned that any such onslaught on the historical site of this district would be foiled.
Social activist Abdul Samad Jokhiyo said that the world-famous district was losing its historical importance after the illegal occupation of lands of historical sites by a group of land Mafias. He said that steps are required to be taken on war footings to save the historical sites of this district.