Oil tankers

It has been years since the SC ordered KPT to remove oil tankers illegally parked in a residential neighbourhood.

The Supreme Court is now seen as being so powerful that no one dares to defy its orders. From the federal government to the military, everyone seems to have accepted that the superior judiciary is now a political power to contend with. No one seems to have sent the memo to the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) though. It has been several years since the Supreme Court ordered the KPT to remove oil tankers that were illegally parked in a residential neighbourhood of Karachi and provide a formal parking space for these tankers. Today, the tankers are still defying the orders, creating a living nightmare for residents in the area. People residing there have to park far from their homes, face traffic nightmares and deal with the noise. In addition, an entire cottage industry of spare parts and repairs for the tankers has mushroomed in what should be a residential area.

The other great problem for the residents is that of security. Many of these tankers provide supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan and thus are ripe targets for militants. Simply leaving them stationary in the locality puts residents at risk of a terrorist attack. The Supreme Court had said that an empty plot in the city of Zulfikarabad should be used but this has not been done since the tanker owners do not want to deal with the inconvenience of being in a distant location, preferring to put out the Clifton residents instead.

The Supreme Court now needs to revisit the case and levy heavy fines on the KPT and the Oil Tankers Association for refusing to comply with its verdict. If even that is not enough, the Supreme Court can order the city government to begin impounding the oil tankers. Excuses that have previously been made by the KPT, such as the fact that alternative plots in the city have been taken over by encroachers should not be entertained. It is the city’s job to deal with land grabbers and it is not the fault of residents from Clifton that this has not been done. There is no reason they should still be inconvenienced years after the Supreme Court gave them relief.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2012.