Locals disrupt anti-encroachment drive in Surjani Town

Unidentified individuals attacked and disrupted an anti-encroachment operation on government land by the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and the deputy commissioner for district West in Surjani Town on Thursday.

The anti-encroachment team was accompanied by a police contingent.

Those in the area resorted to aerial firing while throwing stones at the government team, forcing them to halt the operation and leave the area.

Sources said that the value of the illegally occupied land in Surjani Town was worth billions of rupees.

They said that the officials failed to plan the operation, with the mob outnumbering the police contingent. The attack by the mob forced the police to retreat and it led to a stampede, they added. Only a few illegal constructions were demolished during the operation, the source said.

A government official was killed and four others, including three policemen, sustained injuries due to firing and stone throwing by alleged land grabbers during an anti-encroachment operation in the Surjani Town in November last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2023.