An impossible goal: An encroachment-free Saddar remains a dream

Two days after the KMC's drive ended last week, the encroachments are back.

KARACHI: A few days ago, Saddar looked very different from what Karachi's residents are used to seeing. There were wide roads, smooth traffic, little noise and no makeshift stalls or encroachments on the pavements. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) anti-encroachment drive had been successful - if only for a little while.

"No one could have imagined Saddar being so calm," remarked Murtaza Rizvi, a shopkeeper in busy Empress Market. "It was like the Saddar of old, where peace reigned."



The bustling area had become an encroachment-free zone by April 20, as the KMC removed all the encroachments one by one while the traffic police stopped public transport from entering Saddar.

Unfortunately, this state of affairs only lasted a couple of days. Soon enough, the land mafia returned with its encroachments, the makeshift stalls set up shop with their low-quality wares on the pavements once again and the illegal bus stops popped up as if they had never gone.

Following the drive, KMC administrator Saqib Ahmed Soomro had given orders to his staff to stay watchful and prevent the encroachers from coming back. In a statement, he said that the crackdown aimed to provide facilities to the city's residents and would continue without a break until the goal was achieved.

"The irony is that the re-encroachment is happening right in front of the law enforcement agencies and administration," pointed out Jamil Ahmed Paracha, president of the Karachi Tajir Ittehad. "They stood silent even though they have established permanent vigilance camps here."

However, Syed Muhammad Shakib, the director of the city commissioner's planning and development department, claimed that this was part of their strategy. "To avoid confrontation, we are pursuing a 'continue hitting' policy," he explained, saying that the encroachers were very powerful. "We will keep pressure until they leave Saddar permanently."



Paracha dismissed this argument. "They come and remove the encroachments again and again. Every time, the mafia re-establishes them the very next day."

For him, the problem lies in the extortion money. "The mafia fills the pockets of officials in the administration and the law enforcement agencies with millions of rupees," he alleged. "Until the government removes the corrupt officials from their posts, the issue will remain."

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2015.