Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The iconic shopping mall in the federal capital of Pakistan; Centaurus has been closed, again, on Tuesday morning with the security officials reaching there early in the morning to bar people from entering the building.
A considerable number of security officials including Islamabad police were seen barring people from entering or even moving towards the parking area of the shopping mall. When asked, the police officials could give no reasons for the closure of the mall. “We don’t know the reason for the closure of the mall… We just got orders from our high-ups to ensure that the mall is closed for the general public,” said a police official when pressed for the reasons that led to the decision. Some cited political reasons, saying that the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad has directed to shut the Centaurus mall.
Earlier, there were reports that the England Cricket team was due to visit the Centaurs mall and that was why the security officials were deployed there. A large number of mall employees were seen standing outside the building knowing little about what led to the closure of the Centaurus shopping mall.
Fire at the Centaurus shopping mall
On October 9, Islamabad’s famous Centaurs shopping center was closed after a fire broke out in its food court. It was later reopened after the Chainstore Association of Pakistan (CAP) asked the CDA and the other relevant authorities to reopen it since the mall’s management successfully fulfilled structural and safety prerequisites. Following the incident, Deputy Commissioner Islamabad ordered the civic agency to seal the building for an indefinite period.
CDA statement
The Capital Development Authority (CDA), which supervises building regulations n the capital city, said in a statement that the Centaurus Mall was sealed for violating building regulations.
The civic agency said that the Centaurs Mall management had set up offices in basements and parking lots for banks. It said that several notices were served on the Centaurs Mall management but the management did not remove the encroachments. The Centaurus Mall, owned by Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, was also sealed after a fire incident in October 2022.
