Civil society demands end to anti-encroachment drive in Sindh

Members of the civil society, academia, trade unions, media and intellectuals expressed on Tuesday serious concerns at large-scale demolition of houses and businesses during anti-encroachment operations in both rural and urban areas of Sindh. They said the drive has resulted in unemployment and homelessness.

Civil society members held a press conference in Karachi and
highlighted some issues related to the drive through an open letter to
political parties. They said the ongoing campaign is directly affecting the
poor and middle-class families.

Urban Resource Center Chairman Arif Hasan said that
financial experts and economists are of the view that these businesses
contribute 30-40% to the economy of Karachi.

“Rs1.25billion — an estimated annual income — came from the
encroached settlements at the Empress Market and its surroundings,” Hasan said.

Why these encroachments are there and what part are they playing in the economy?

“No urban planning has recently been done in Karachi and the
city is spreading on its own,” the URC chairman said. He said there’s no
designated place for cargo and bus terminals and wholesale markets, which is
why the roads and streets of Karachi are being encroached upon.

Hasan, a renowned town planner, was in favour of providing
proper space for unregistered stalls and vending carts.

He also highlighted another issue relating to the existence
of ‘katchi abadis’ in the city. The Sindh government should regularize these
settlements at once, he suggested.

“40,000 people were directly affected because of the
operation to recover Karachi Circular Railway land,” Hasan said. “Another
3,800 houses are feared to be affected if the anti-encroachment operation
resumes on KCR land.”

He said the government should find an alternative before
displacing people.

“Displacing temporary settlements is not a solution as these
people will move to another place,” the URC chairman said. “The
process continues and ‘katchi abadis’ are established elsewhere.”

He said the government has many lands to make arrangements
for people who have been displaced during the anti-encroachment drive.

“We have properly calculated that 8,000 displaced families
can easily be settled on a 100-acre land,” Hasan said. The government can
also help these displaced people build houses by providing easy loans, he
added.

Tasneem Ahmad Siddiqui, who works with non-government
organisation Saiban, noted that PPP founder and former premier Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto was also in favour of regularisation of ‘katchi abadis’.

Siddiqui lamented that no attention is being paid towards
regularisation of these settlements in Karachi.

Why are katchi abadis established and why do people settle in them?

Siddiqui elaborated that a poor family hardly earns $2 (a
little more than Rs300) per day for their livelihood and it is impossible for
them to rent a proper house.

He said the government has also failed to introduce any
housing scheme for the lower and middle-class people.

Karamat Ali, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of
Labour Education and Research, requested the Supreme Court to review its orders
to remove all encroachments in Karachi. A proper study should be conducted on
KCR and encroachment issues with the help of experts, he added.

Sheema Kermani, renowned activist and founder of the
Tehrik-e-Niswan Organisation, said anti-encroachment operations badly affected
women. “They have been deprived of basic facilities like toilets and sleeping
places.”

Kermani said many women suffered sexual violence due to
non-availability of proper housing spaces. She demanded an end to the
anti-encroachment drive.

The civil society members demanded the following things:

• The anti-encroachment drive in the province must be stopped
• The Pakistan Peoples Party government must fulfill promises made by party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah
• The government immediately appoint people-friendly architects, planners and social scientists to undertake a spatial re-organisation of Karachi
• Informal markets and affectees of infrastructure development projects be rehabilitated in a sustainable manner
• Displaced families be provided 60-square yard plots on government land at a location close to their source of livelihood
• Policies be made to regulate and license hawkers and informal markets as has been done in many parts of the world
• All political parties revisit their manifestos, whereby they had sought to address housing needs of the people, so that a broad consensus on what is being proposed in this open letter could be achieved

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Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/news/local/2020/01/civil-society-demands-end-to-anti-encroachment-drive-in-sindh/