Anti-encroachment campaign

As the anti-encroachment drive continues relentlessly in the chaos of Karachi, businesses in parts of the busy Saddar Bazaar stood suspended for days in the past week. As many as 86 shops on Akbar Road offering various auto-services as well as auto-spare parts were sealed for disobeying directives to clear their business from roads and footpaths. Similar encroachment is not an issue confined to this particular locality. In almost every area that is home to a slew of customers, residential and commercial alike, such informal businesses have since long cropped up and assumed permanent address.

The problem with such businesses goes beyond 'not letting poor people earn'. They operate on an undocumented agreement between the owners and the policemen, who allow them to have their space after hefty bribes. Such markets, specifically rampant in Saddar, are a mini-economy of their own and consistently fuel administrative corruption in the name of survival. Undoubtedly, the entire blame lands on the shoulders of policemen who accepts those bribes. But unabashed disputes with anti-encroachment drives, such as the protest orchestrated by tea stall and dhaba owners two months ago, only make it more difficult for the city to operate on just and legal principles.

The protest, staged by the All Sindh Hotel and Restaurant Grand Association, happened in light of around 400 hotels being sealed, which were later de-sealed on promise of compliance with SOPs. This anti-encroachment drive must not lose its momentum, and SOPs must strictly be enforced to dispel the belief that tradition stands above law. The government must also take concrete steps to fortify what can turn out to be a temporary erasure if not treated seriously, while also putting an end to the unbridled practice of bribery that allows these businesses to thrive.