No pain, no gain: Even as city tries to build elevated solution, squatters threaten to pull it down

Work hits snags as a mosque comes in way of flyover into Azeempura.

KARACHI: Flyovers are built in the air, but even they need legs. In the case of the new one being constructed at Malir 15, the design of one loop is being changed as a mosque comes in the way.

Construction has already been delayed and the city, contractor, police and commissioner are all nervous about what will happen to this important intersection during Ramzan.

If you look at the map, you will see Noorani Masjid has been built right on the road at Malir 15. It is patronised by the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ). "Since the land was not allotted or documented no one knows when it was built," said DSP Liaquat Dogar, who is posted in the area. "But according to people here, it was built by the late 1990s."

The mosque's illegal status is confirmed by surrounding encroachments, many of which the city government has already removed. The mosque was left standing along with two tea hotels and squatters from the railway colony. But unless they are removed, the city will not be able to build a diversion road from Quaidabad to the airport, by June 19. Ramzan is expected to begin shortly after.

"The removal of the mosque is very sensitive matter and whenever an anti-encroachment team comes here, I will go on leave for two days," said one official at the site who was too scared to be named. "Several times, they warned us to stop the construction work." No one was willing to officially comment. The contractor has been threatened. But last week, when he tried to bring up or hint at the problem at a meeting with Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, he was bulldozed into silence. The pressure was instead turned on the contractor to get the job done before Ramzan. It is not clear why the mosque was not factored in when the initial drawings were made by EA Consulting Pvt. Ltd.



In addition to the threats to the contractor, there were also unconfirmed reports that extremists in Azeempura had also demanded Rs50 million from the construction company. But everyone involved was too scared to comment.

The Express Tribune asked the commissioner if he had been informed about the problem with the mosque. "This is a project for the people and we will not tolerate anyone creating hurdles for it," he had promised. "We will be meeting with the mosque's administration and the encroachments will be removed within the next few days."

By Friday the commissioner met the team again to review progress. The media was not allowed into the meeting, but according to the director-general of services and works, Niaz Ahmed Soomro, they have started negotiating with the ASWJ. "They have given us permission to work in some parts of the mosque," he told The Express Tribune afterwards. "We have slightly changed the design of the loop and now they have permitted us to lay down two piles in the premises of the mosque." He added that they were not relocating the mosque but altering its building's design.

Also involved in the negotiations is the director of the anti-encroachment task force, Mazhar Khan. "We had several meetings with them and hopefully we will solve the issue with consensus," he said.

Sources said that ASWJ chief Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqui would have to sign an agreement but as he was touring the Punjab that part of the negotiations were stalled. For his part, ASWJ's spokesman in Karachi, Maulana Umer Muavia, told The Express Tribune: "We will not let the masjid be destroyed. We strongly condemn it. And if they break it, then we will announce a plan of action."

And so, the city and the contractor have had to rejig their entire plan for a diversion route. Now they will be going through the main road so the mosque is not disturbed. But this is not the end of their troubles. Encroachments in Azeempura spread beyond the mosque.

"The board of revenue allotted some land inside the Azeempura area," explained the executive engineer for the Malir 15 flyover, Syed Ishrat Rehan. "Residents of adjacent areas are also creating hurdles for the construction of the bridge." On Friday's meeting the commissioner had said that the leases issued by the board of revenue would be immediately cancelled as they were illegal.

Anti-encroachment teams will be going in on July 7 with the law-enforcement agencies as they were attacked on previous attempts. The flyover's deadline is December.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2014.