Residents resist anti encroachment drive
A farmhouse being razed on the first day of a three-day anti-encroachment drive in Malir. The move sparked a protest, fol-lowing which the operation was suspended for the day. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Residents of Rashidi Goth, Malir, set up barricades on all roads leading to their goth and started rioting when an operation against encroachment was to be started.
The SSP Malir informed the press that the Sindh High Court balif had ordered that the houses, shops, and warehouses, built illegally in Rashidi Goth, should be demolished. Prior to the operation, formal notices were sent to the residents.
Anti-encroachment squads, supported by a heavy contingent of police, including policewomen and equipped with water cannons, reached the goth where they faced resistance from the goth dwellers who had set up barricades and burnt tyres to refrain police and anti-encroachment teams from entering the goth. In the meantime, court balif called and stopped the operation after which the contingents were sent back.
Meanwhile, the residents of Rashidi Goth have claimed that they had been living there for the past eleven years and had bought the land by paying money and built houses.