The challenge of keeping Lyari residents at home

Dwellers consider social interaction crucial to their survival, refuse to stay indoors

KARACHI: Even though the Sindh government is doing its best to contain the spread of COVID-19 by urging the people of Karachi to stay indoors, the town of Lyari has posed a challenge for health authorities as well as the law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

Residents of Lyari are neither following recommended precautions nor obeying the orders of the LEAs. As a result, the police have had to block the streets with pushcarts and garbage bins to stop people from leaving their houses unnecessarily.

A history of lockdowns

Living in a lockdown is nothing new for the residents of Lyari. They had to face a similar situation during the Lyari Operation of September 2013 when all the shops had been closed and people were confined to their homes.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Lyari residents said that they feel no difference between the ongoing lockdown and the one imposed during the operation.



“All the roads have been blocked. The shops have been shut down. We faced a similar situation in 2013. What is new for us in this lockdown?” questioned Abdul Wahid Baloch, a resident of Shah Beg Lane. “I feel the forces are treating us as if the gang war has started anew.”

Most of the markets in Lyari, including Jhat Patt Market, Kumbhar Wada Market, Bihar Colony Market and Nawa Lane’s bazaar remain fully operational. Grocery shops, pharmacies and milk shops on the main roads, however, have been forcibly shut down by the LEAs.

“[Despite attempts to shut down shops in a bid to keep people indoors,] Lyari streets seem to be unusually crowded these days,” commented Shoaib Mandhro, another resident. “It’s like a long weekend for us,” he said, adding that it is not so easy to impose a lockdown in this part of the city.  “This is not Clifton or Gulshan-e-Iqbal. This is Lyari. You cannot force people to stay at home.”

Supporting Mandhro’s views, Abu Bakr Baloch, a resident of Nawa Lane, said that the people of Lyari do not want to cooperate with the government.

‘Crucial’ interaction

In Abu Bakr’s view, staying in a lockdown is against the nature of the people of Lyari. “They cannot stay at home for certain reasons,” he elaborated. “We have very small houses, and besides that, Lyari has a strong community-based system.”

In his eyes, regular interaction is crucial to the survival of Lyari’s residents. “The lockdown means one should practice social distancing, but owing to the culture prevalent here, people have doubled their interactions as compared to the past,” he revealed.

Dawood Adam, a resident of Kalri, said that he lives in a very small house with five other family members. “How can you confine so many people in such a small house for an extended period?” he questioned. “Usually, men spend more than half of the day outside for work and only come home for dinner and to sleep. This way, we don’t feel cramped inside the house all the time.”

In their leisure time, residents of Lyari stand outside of their houses and engage in friendly chatter with the neighbours. They also walk to the main roads at least twice a day.

The ineffective use of force

Salman Khatri, who lives in Mirza Adam Khan, said that the LEAs even baton-charged crowds in Lyari, but it did not reap any benefits.

“We are used to bullets and rocket launchers. Baton charges are nothing for us,” Khatri chuckled, saying the residents know they cannot be kept indoors by force. He also pointed out that the LEAs have already done everything to keep people inside but they had failed.

“They [the LEAs] are exhausted now. They are just blocking the main roads but the smaller streets are always full of people. There is no social distancing here.”

The reason for resistance

Khatri said that one of the major reasons that Lyari’s people are showing so much resistance is because there have been very few positive cases of COVID-19 in the town.

“A very few individuals from Lyari have been tested positive, so people feel that they do not have anything to worry about,” he commented. “Besides, people here also believe that coronavirus only affects rich people living in posh localities.”

Abu Bakr agreed with Khatri’s views, saying that Lyari’s residents believe they have already been infected with different viruses, so their immunity is stronger.

“We drink toxic water and eat unhygienic food,” he said. “It is impossible to convince the people of Lyari to stay at home because of their health. Only a curfew or army deployment can be effective.”



Musawwar Ali, from Kala Kot, said that in Lyari, it seems like a perpetual weekend these days. “Youngsters come out on the roads and play football and cricket even in front of the police and Rangers personnel,” he said. “Some of them are so fed up that they throw water bags at security forces, compelling them to leave their areas.”

A challenge for the LEAs

When approached, police officials posted at Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai Road said that dealing with the residents of Lyari has been a challenging task. “There is no fear among them,” explained an official, who preferred not to be named. “We repeatedly requested them, then resorted to threats of arrest but nothing worked.”

Another police official deployed near Kakri Ground said that the LEAs have been trying their best to keep the people of Lyari inside their homes. “It is hard to sensitise the people of Lyari about the dangerous virus and convince them that we are doing this for their safety,’ the young official said. “They don’t listen to anything. We are having a very tough time here.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2020.