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‘I own Karachi’ … and can sell it! – II
By Ardeshir Cowasjee Steal land, the govt is not protecting it any more! Ardeshir Cowasjee. ‘BUY land — they’re not making it any more.’ Mark Twain’s one-liner has attained a new twist in our beleaguered Karachi: ‘Steal land — the government is not protecting it any more!’ The adverse ecological, social and economic consequences of grabbing and converting public land and amenity spaces, especially parks and playgrounds, increasingly matters not a whit to the so-called ‘leaders,’ administrators, officials and odd politicians despite their hypocritical protestations of love for the country and their loud trumpeting of determination to do what is best for the common good. This past February, I wrote about how our young and energetic city nazim, Mustafa Kamal, had told a gathering of some 200 businessmen, industrialists, environmentalists, academics and NGOs that he had just learnt for the first time of the importance of the environment and admitted to being unfamiliar with the Environment Protection Act 1997 and with the effects of climate change. He said he was open to any offers from those willing to assist him in evaluating his development strategy and his proposed solutions for the city’s problems, including mass transportation, treatment of 400 million gallons per day of raw untreated sewage presently being dumped into the sea, and the management of 10,000 tons of garbage generated daily. Now, coincidentally, whilst he was speaking, at another Karachi venue, members of the MQM were passing a City Council resolution converting over 40 acres of amenity space at Sewage Treatment Plant-2 in Mahmoodabad into a housing colony. This was done despite the protests of opposition members who foresaw ‘horrible devastation’ if land assigned for a treatment plant expansion was swallowed up. Some time later, we were compelled to file another case to protect this critical 40 acres of sewage treatment plant land from conversion to a residential estate: the court was good enough to grant us an ad-interim stay (which is, unfortunately, being openly violated at the site — contempt of court?). Also this year, Shehri, the redoubtable environmental group, wrote to all the powers that be providing them with ‘before’ (2004) and ‘after’ (2009) satellite images of five encroached parks in North Nazimabad: the unlawful construction of houses, without any KBCA-approved plans, is clearly visible (see images at www.shehri.org). This newspaper and other sections of the press, including the latest annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), prominently publicised Shehri’s complaints, but Mustafa Kamal has not yet spoken up. Last month, the CDGK’s Master Planner, Attique Baig, inserted a public notice in the press inviting objections within one week to a proposal to convert over half of a playground in Bath Island’s Gulshan-i-Faisal Society to commercial shops and a road. Presently, less than 13 per cent of the society’s 46 acres is being used for amenities (parks, playgrounds, mosques, schools, etc), despite local town-planning laws which require a minimum of 18 per cent. Investigations revealed that about 3,000 square yards of the playground had already been encroached upon by under-construction multistoried KPT flats. Now further pillage is being planned. I addressed a letter to Mr Attique Beg, EDO (MPGO), CDGK on the subject of the ‘Conversion of playground to shops, Gulshan-i-Faisal Society in Bath Island,’ copying Mustafa. It read: ‘I live in the locality and utilise the meagre amenities/utilities planned for the area. Your Public Notice in The Nation dated 6-4-2009 (copy attached) is not at all clear. Apparently, CDGK proposes to endorse the re-planning of the playground in Gulshan-i-Faisal Society to create 12 shops and a road, and is trying to determine if the public has any objections. As this is in blatant violation of the laws prohibiting change of amenity land use, the application should have been rejected ab initio by the CDGK/MPGO. Please provide me immediately with copies of the documents listed in Annexure-1 to enable me to file detailed objections.’ To date, no answer has been received. The April 24 issue of The Pulse, an Islamabad weekly, carries an article entitled ‘MQM leads in land-grabbing contest’, detailing the activities of the three major coalition partners in the Sindh government, PPP, ANP and MQM in ethnic-inspired battles to grab government, private and amenity lands. ‘Shuhada’ (martyrs’) colonies have been set up on public amenity plots in Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Korangi, Malir and elsewhere for the heirs of deceased MQM activists. The party maintains that such residential misuse is a lesser evil, and prevents parks from being captured by the ‘Taliban’ for unlawful mosques/madressahs. Should not the government be protecting these amenity spaces from all marauders for the original planned beneficial use of the common citizens?The news item lists 175 parks and playgrounds where the MQM has arbitrarily established party offices (www.weeklypulse.org/ pulse/article/3449.html). The connivance of revenue/land and cooperative societies’ departmental officials, along with the patronage of the nazims, police and politicians, expedites the takeover and occupation of all types of land in the city. The PPP cooperatives minister, Jalil Memon, has admitted to blatant corruption in his department where commercial and other land of societies (including those for lower-cadre government employees) has been illegally disposed by appointed administrators and inspectors. Every now and then, the provincial government makes a pretence of taking notice of the loot and pillage, but inquiries dissipate with time. The problem has other dimensions. Much valuable real estate in the heart of Karachi was given by the province in pre-1947 days to various government and utility/municipal organisations, including the railways, post office, civil aviation authority, water board, transport corporations, tourism department, etc. Such lands had acquired the status of amenity spaces. Increasingly, over the past two decades, incompetence, mismanagement and rampant corruption have broken the financial backs of these organisations. To keep themselves alive, they have now been reduced to unlawfully auctioning their centrally-located amenity land for commercial/residential/and other uses. What will they sell when all the ‘family silver’ has been swallowed up? We, the people, are inconsequential, helpless. The ‘rulers’ consider themselves to be above all laws. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry feels for the people. Could he please take suo moto notice and ask the factotums why the laws and conventions are so brazenly being violated? Could he please order the Karachi Supreme Court bench to act? The people and their earth which is being defiled will be grateful. Footnote: An HRCP fact-finding team reports that the violence that erupted last month at a Christian resettlement colony in Surjani Town was a ploy engineered by an area PPP-MQM nexus of land-grabbers to harass their ANP competitors by blaming Pashtuns for the pro-Taliban wall-chalking on churches and the subsequent attacks. Dawn: Sunday, 17 May, 2009
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