Do-gooders beware: Police chase off volunteers in North Nazimabad

Force Saaf Karachi workers to abandon cleanliness campaign in Katti Pahari

KARACHI: Workers of the Saaf Karachi cleanliness campaign were asked to immediately leave Katti Pahari on Sunday by the Shahrahe Noor Jahan police.

A founding member of Saaf Karachi, Danish Shah, told The Express Tribune that they were called to the police station and 'rudely' asked who they were working for. The police official told them to immediately leave the area and threatened to lodge an FIR against them if they were found operating in the area again.

When contacted, SHO Ghulam Asghar Abbas said the area was not suitable for such activities. "We should have been informed earlier about the drive," he said, adding that the young volunteers arrived suddenly and police were unprepared to provide them security. However, he denied the team was harassed or threats of an FIR were made against them.

Team member Suha Abbas said she was taken in a separate room at the police station by women police officials, who were not in proper uniform. "They asked me in a very harsh tone who I was working for and if I have my parents' permission to carry out such work," she said. "When I replied that I do [have permission], they crudely examined me from top to bottom," she explained. In order to leave the police station, Abbas said that she had to say "sorry" and promise not to return.

What they do

Every Sunday, a group of over 100 members meets to choose an area after proper research, collect donations from residents, bring in equipment and start cleaning it, which takes around four hours.

The group's founders include Zain Aquil, 25, an employee of a software house, Abbas,20,  who is a textile design student, Delhi College student Shaikh Abdullah, 20, and Greenwich University student Shah, who is 22. It was over a cup of tea that Shah came up with the idea and the initiative was formally launched on January 10.

The group first met to clean the median strip from Landi Kotal Chowrangi to Five Star Chowrangi in North Nazimabad. So far, they have also cleaned Peoples Chowrangi and various other spots in district Central.

Running into problems

When the group turned their radar to Katti Pahari, they we met with several naysayers, which included North Nazimabad assistant commissioner Shaikh Muhammad Rafique.

According to Shah, when they contacted Rafique, he not only discouraged them but asked them to choose a different spot, claiming it was useless to clean Katti Pahari. When contacted by The Express Tribune, Rafique responded that he was not in charge of the city's cleanliness. I would have helped them out had they approached me properly, he said, adding that while sweeping did not require the government's permission, in order to collect and dump trash the District Municipal Corporation's (DMC) permission was required.

To this, Shah explained that the team dumped all the trash in North Nazimabad's Jafco Ground -the dumping spot for North Nazimabad.

No politics

Staying apolitical is another problem faced by the team. According to Shah, he is under pressure to join various political parties. He said they were recently threatened by a local political party to join them or they would be unable to continue their work.

Even #FixIt campaign's Alamgir Khan has asked the Saaf Karachi team to join hands with him. "We appreciate Khan's efforts in his personal capacity but one cannot deny his affiliation with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf," said Shah. He added that Khan has his way of bringing about change, while they have theirs.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 29^th,  2016.