Govt urged to stop evictions for housing schemes

A large number of residents, political workers and civil society activists staged a protest demonstration on Friday and demanded from the government to stop the removal of local people and the allotment of lands to private mega housing projects in Karachi.

The Indigenous Rights Alliance Karachi, a group of civil society and political activists from rural and coastal areas of the city, organised the protest. Participants were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the dislocation of local population as a result of various housing schemes.

The alliance’s coordinator, Gul Hassan Kalmati, said the Malir Development Authority and the Board of Revenue had provided only 9,000 to 11,000 acres of land to a private housing company, but the management was building a scheme over 45,000 acres.

He alleged that the company had demolished many historical places, including Shah Latif

Bhitai’s Takiya and a graveyard, in partnership with the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party’s leadership after forcibly evicting villagers.

Speakers pledged to continue their struggle for the rights of the local people. Other speakers included Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Asad Iqbal Butt, Awami Workers Party’s Yousaf Masti Khan, Jeay Sindh Mahaz chairperson Abdul Khaliq Junejo, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz’s Ilahi Baksh Bikik, journalist Sami Memon and civil society activist Naghma Shaikh.