ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Tuesday sealed Islamabad’s Centaurus Mall, a move that has been widely viewed as “retaliation” by the Pakistan government a day after the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, whose family owns the mall, sparred with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at an official event.
In videos shared on social media, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas is heard asking Sharif questions about what his government had done for Kashmir. The exchange took place at the inaugural ceremony of the refurbishment project of Units 5 and 6 of the Mangla Dam Hydroelectric Power Plant on Monday.
Sharif, who was about to conclude his speech at the event, is seen gesturing and asking the AJK premier to retire to his seat.
The following day, traders and employees of the mall arrived for work to find a notice pasted on the door saying the premises had been sealed on account of building and other violations.
“Basically, there was some hard talk between prime ministers of AJK and Pakistan at an event which took place in Mangla and subsequent to that hard talk as retaliation the government gave instructions to CDA to seal the building at 3am at night,” chief executive officer of Centaurus Mall, Sardar Yasir Ilyas, told Arab News. “I am surprised that a business is being politically victimized.”
Yasir is the younger brother of the AJK PM and the mall is owned by their father Sardar Ilyas Khan.
“You are draining an international project which will compromise the confidence of local and overseas investors,” he added.
Ilyas said the closure would cause billions of rupees in losses of general sales and income tax because all the shops at the mall were linked with the Federal Board of Revenue system.
How was the mall functioning for nearly a decade if it did not conform to building rules, the CEO asked.
“This project is running since 2013 so how you can close it overnight without giving any notice, without giving any warning,” Ilyas said. “And you are sealing it at 3am in the morning, so this means you have mala fide intentions.”
A CDA spokesperson, however, said the mall was being sealed due to non-compliance and violation of building rules.
“The mall is not sealed due to any political motive as we have already served so many notices to them since 2021,” CDA spokesperson Asif Ali Raza Shah told Arab News.
“It is not only this mall but last month we issued notices to almost 600 buildings in the capital city.”
“As it [Centaurus] is a sensitive and very crowded place, we have to ensure implementation of the laws, otherwise the media and court will ask from us,” Shah added.
The CDA notice issued to the mall says the building management had “illegally” constructed offices and a training center and a storage facility in the basement of the building which was reserved for parking space. It also said it was illegally charging parking fee from the public.
Atta Tarar, ruling party leader and special assistant to PM Sharif, said the Centaurus Mall had been issued four notices, two of them during the last government’s tenure, over violations and failure to conduct building inspections.
