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I own Karachi … and can
sell it! – 3
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
The
role of Karachi police in the land grabbing is pivotal: Arrdeshir
Cowasjee. — APP/File Photo
ANGUISH, suffering there is
a-plenty, but the press on May 29 told us that our president, who
had disturbed Karachi, had given the go-ahead to his ‘Green Karachi’
exercise comprising 12 projects involving the building of parks, the
‘beautification’ of certain areas and tree-planting.
Fine, this is laudable; it is what many have been crying out for
over the past years — more parks and the preservation of what open
spaces remain to us. The presidential project will cost over Rs22bn.
Now, let us take priorities. A friend rang me on the morning the
news broke and posed a simple question. If your garden needs
attention whilst in your house you have a sick child, what is your
first priority?
The government is running around with its begging bowl seeking funds
for the displaced persons who now reportedly number over three
million. President Asif Zardari, when in Karachi, asked the business
community to come forth and contribute funds to set up relief camps
without informing them or us as to how much he himself and his
friends in government, none of them in any manner deprived, have
contributed. May we know?
Should the ‘Green Karachi’ project not be slowed down, with money
diverted to relief camps for those displaced persons who are seeking
refuge? Yes, we must have the parks, but for the moment, until some
sort of normalcy is returned to the country, they can be fenced in
and measures taken to ensure that there are no encroachments. The
large shady tree-planting, not an excessively expensive exercise,
should go ahead forthwith. But it is the homeless and dispossessed
who have sought hospitality who must take priority when it comes to
spending the people’s money.
My last column under the above title was well received by those who
care for this city. Over 30 emails came in from citizens supplying
additional details of the unlawful capture of amenity spaces in
various sectors. One government officer, while apprising me of land
that was being gobbled up in Karachi, accused me of being partial
and not exposing the wrongdoings of the politicos and their parties.
In his words, 'The ministers and leaders of ethnic groups are
organising the land grab and encroachments, under the patronage of
the law enforcement agencies — after the home minister has been' won
over.
On May 25 the UAE blog The National carried this bit of news:
'Criminal gangs with links to key political parties are terrorising
the residents of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, according to
officials and victims. The most powerful is the so-called ‘land
mafia’, who take over commercial plots, government land and even
people’s homes, the officials said. The land mafiosi, who work out
of legal fronts such as building, contracting and real estate
businesses, derive their strength from political parties with
constituencies in Karachi and other parts of southern Sindh province
such as the MQM, the PPP, the ANP and the PML-Q and PML-Functional.'
The role of the Karachi police in the grabbing of land is pivotal:
they owe allegiance to none except Mammon. No government land can be
encroached upon unless the force is paid off, but law and order
support is not forthcoming to the municipal agencies which
occasionally try to remove encroachers. The pace of land grabbing is
accelerating in areas on the periphery of the city, with all
political parties, government agencies and law-enforcement bodies
making sure they get their share. In the city centre, politicians
are sponsoring the takeover of pedestrian pavements, roads and open
spaces for thelas, khokas and commercial activity.
For many months city nazim Mustafa Kamal has repeatedly written to
Capital City Police officer Waseem Ahmed, copying the governor,
chief minister and home department, lamenting the collusive role of
the police in facilitating recent encroachments on government land —
to no avail. The CDGK has listed 7,956 allotted/un-allotted plots
(residential, amenity, commercial, industrial and flat-site) that
have been swallowed up in former KDA schemes and townships (see
www.shehri.org).
Land encroachment has also taken an ethnic bent. For 60 years,
Sindhis have found themselves progressively becoming a minority in
their own capital city. Now the descendants of the original Mohajirs
are worried about the influx of Pashtuns into Karachi and their
growing political power (in last year’s elections the ANP won two
seats in the MQM’s stronghold). The MQM has under way a variation of
Lebensraum (the 20th century Nazi scheme to resolve potential
demographic problems and defend the German race against stagnation
and degeneration) which it is hoped will create vote-banks.
A visit to Sikanderabad, a massive katchi abadi behind the Ziauddin
Hospital in Clifton, exposes ongoing land reclamation in the eastern
backwaters of Chinna Creek, in the jurisdiction of the Karachi Port
Trust. Structures are presently under construction on 60 square yard
plots that have been sold for Rs150,000 each by the local land
mafia, who dumped trucks of earth-fill and garbage into the sea to
produce ‘land’.
Furthermore, poles are installed in the water over large areas,
demarcating and laying claim to ‘plots’ that will be created in the
near future. At this rate, Sikanderabad will soon meet Lalazar on
M.T. Khan Road (Beach Luxury Hotel, Boat Club, Naval Colony, etc),
virtually eliminating the tidal action of Chinna Creek that scours
the shipping channel of Karachi harbour.
Citizens in affected areas are now approaching the courts, which are
responding in an effort to protect the environment: but it may be a
case of too little, too late. This week the CDGK was restrained by
the SHC from auctioning 13 amenity plots in North Karachi (community
gardens, car shelters); an anti-corruption judge has indicted
Allaudin Sabir, a former KMC municipal commissioner for illegally
converting amenity Gutter Baghicha land into residential housing;
and Justices Mushir Alam and Safdar Ali Bhutto of the Sindh High
Court banned the cutting of trees throughout Karachi.
Conversion of the Mahmoodabad sewage treatment plant and auction of
a space on the Clifton promenade have also been stayed, as were
certain encroachments on parks in the North Nazimabad/Federal B
areas.
Afterthought: some of our politicians are even evincing some
interest in upholding the law. The PML-N has punished two high-level
legislators, one for cheating in a university exam by having someone
else appear for him, the other for manhandling and intimidating
customs officers at Lahore airport. Well done the Brothers Sharif!
arfc@cyber.net.pk
DAWN. Sunday, 31 May, 2009 |
