Farooq Sattar has admitted that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had initiated the China-cutting policy, and that their motives were to provide housing to the poor and to save the plots from being encroached by the land mafia.
Sattar made these remarks during a panel discussion on Sunday, after journalist and political activist Fatima Zaidi, who moderated the session, asked him to comment on how all the land issues in Karachi were linked with the MQM’s China-cutting.
The panel discussion titled ‘Is Karachi run by Political Parties or Builders?’ was part of the ‘Land Rights and the Housing Crisis in Karachi’ conference arranged by the Karachi Bachao Tehreek (KBT) at the Institute of Business Administration.
Sattar said that initially, a few settlements through China-cutting were a success, but later, the land mafia took advantage of it. He also admitted that China-cutting was one of the major reasons for the MQM’s downfall. He, however, claimed that only five per cent of the total encroachments in the city are because of China-cutting.
He stressed on invoking Article 140-A in its true spirit and empowering the local government. Unfortunately, he said, all the political parties of the city have been captured by mafias and looters, with seasoned politicians forced into taking the backseat. He also stressed on selectively surpassing provincial autonomy through Article 149-A.
The MQM-Pakistan’s MPA from Orangi Town, Ali Khursheed, said that until 2008, the ownership of the city belonged to the city, adding that projects like the Lyari Expressway were completed, while those affected by it were rehabilitated and compensated with dignity.
Post-2008, however, the city was managed from Dadu and Larkana, and now it is being tried to run from Islamabad, he pointed out. Had the ownership of this city belonged to its people, issues like those of the Nasla Tower, and the Gujjar Nullah and Orangi Nullah would have been resolved, he said.
KBT Convener Khurram Ali said that a political party cannot save the interests of both the public and the builder. There was consensus among the participants and panellists that political parties have miserably failed to play their role in allaying the miseries of the families affected by the operation to clear the Gujjar and Orangi storm water drains of encroachments.
Highlighting the lack of political party support when demolitions were taking place, Ali pointed out that when he was arrested during a demonstration against them, political leaders like Sattar and Khursheed were nowhere to be seen.
One of the affected people pointed out during the discussion that they have presence of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the MQM, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in their settlements along the Gujjar Nullah and the Orangi Nullah.
She asked that when they were protesting for their right to be rehabilitated or compensated, where all those political parties were. “We were raised listening to how Karachi was the MQM’s stronghold. If the city was once your stronghold, you could at least have honoured your vestiges.”
Sattar later admitted the failures of his former political party, as well as those of the government and the state, saying that there should be no shame in accepting one’s mistakes.
The Awami Worker Party’s Advocate Akhtar Hussain pointed out that the right to life is not only about not punishing without a court trial but is also about decent living, which he said is not possible without providing a roof and proper education.
He said the state is not ready to give the right to life to the families affected by the Gujjar Nullah and Orangi Nullah operation.
If there is a house constructed on the land of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) or on the Gujjar Nullah land, he said that it is certainly the responsibility of the state and different government agencies.
He said that when the Supreme Court had been talking about the KCR, they had asked to first determine what the circular railway project was about.
He added that the Japan International Cooperation Agency had earlier shown interest in the project but then backed out, so it was ordered that the KCR would be revived according to its old plan.
The Pakistan Railways expressed resentment because it was not possible to revive the KCR to its original shape, as there were scores of crossings that needed to be gotten rid of. This, he said, shows how people were deprived of their homes without any planning.
He said the chief justice asks about the progress of demolitions, but does not inquire about his order of rehabilitation, which has not been done in a year. The government, he added, is responsible for how the residents had been granted leases.
“Even if there is no lease, people have the right to live, and without alternatives, they cannot be displaced. Political parties are not committed to providing the fundamental rights to the people.”
He pointed out that just because there are elites in the Nasla Tower, political parties have put up their banners in their support and abandoned the Gujjar Nullah and Orangi Nullah’s affected families. When the National Democratic Movement’s founding member, Kawish Anjum, asked if political parties were being run by politicians in the city, Khursheed responded by saying that they were being run by the builder mafia.