Four hurt as violence mars drive against encroachments

Korangi’s Mehran Town turned into a battlefield on Tuesday after violent protests broke out as the Karachi Development Authority’s (KDA) anti-encroachment cell attempted to perform their duties. At least four people, including three KDA employees, were wounded while miscreants set about half a dozen vehicles on fire.

Following the orders of the Supreme Court, a major anti-encroachment campaign was launched in Karachi, during which hundreds of shops have already been razed by KDA teams across the metropolis, particularly in Saddar Town.

KDA teams often brave protests, but for the first time during the current operation, they met with a strong resistance when they attempted to raze illegal houses in the Mehran Town locality of Korangi.

The situation turned ugly when the KDA team reached the locality with heavy machinery in order to launch an anti-encroachment operation there, but before they could start, miscreants among the protesters attacked the officials by pelting them with stones.

“The team was conducting an operation in the Mehran Town area of Korangi when they faced severe resistance,” said the spokesperson for the KDA. “Land grabbers attacked our anti-encroachment team with stones and even opened fire on them.”

As many as three employees of the KDA’s Estate & Enforcement Department, including a photographer of the authority, were injured as enraged protesters attacked the officials. The demonstrators also torched at least five motorcycles and a car as well as an estate agency during the protest. They also put up barricades and burning tyres on the road and staged a sit-in against the KDA team.

A large number of protesters, including women and children, participated in the sit-in and put up a massive resistance against the anti-encroachment efforts of the KDA officials. The demonstrators also shouted slogans against the relevant authorities.

They accused the KDA and other relevant authorities and departments for patronising housing schemes due to their lucrative interests, for which they had termed their houses illegal and sought to remove them. They said they belong to middle-class families and cannot afford to buy new houses.

“If our houses are illegal, strict action should be taken against those who helped us build our illegal homes,” said a resident named Kashif Ali. “They allowed us to build our houses after taking heavy bribes from us, and now they want to raze them after declaring them illegal.”

Another resident, Haji Ramzan Ali, said: “We are ready to be silent spectators while our houses are demolished, but they [KDA officials] should also be punished for patronising illegal societies.”

A heavy contingent of police officials reached the area and tried to disperse the protesters by aerial firing, but they refused to budge. Following that, the Rangers were called in while the locals continued to thwart the anti-encroachment operation.

After things turned ugly, the KDA team had stopped their operation and sought shelter in the nearby police station. The police arrested around a dozen suspects, including those who had fired on the KDA team and torched vehicles.

Sindh police chief IGP Dr Syed Kaleem Imam took notice of the situation and asked the East DIG to submit a comprehensive inquiry report on the incident. The IGP also directed the East SSP to take the legal residents of the area into confidence and provide them with security.

“The situation is under control at the moment,” said East Zone police chief DIG Amir Farooqui. “Some KDA officials, estate agents and police officials had facilitated the people in the illegal occupation of plots in Mehran Town.”

DIG Farooqui said this has been happening for the past many years and not only in Mehran Town but many other areas, adding that now the KDA is demolishing their houses so the people are protesting.

He said that a detailed inquiry is needed to identify all the perfidious elements in this practice of illegal occupation in the city. He added that those arrested includes an estate dealer with a gun who had apparently fired on the people who barged into his agency maybe because he had sold them the plots.