KARACHI, May 29: A majority of speakers at a consultative meeting on Monday, condemned razing of old villages in the city, and demanded that the action be stopped. Sindh Chief Minister’s adviser on local bodies Waseem Akhtar said only around 20 per cent people in these villages were genuine, while 80 per cent were belong to land mafia who were trying to use the issue to provoke people for their vested interest.

He said he had sympathies with the people and was ready to discuss the issue with poor people. He said efforts were being made to convince the higher ups to agree on payment of compensation to the genuine victims.

He, however, said there were many other issues, but the issue of evictions had been blown out of proportions, and many people were politicizing it to achieve their ulterior motives.

He said that the land mafia was very strong and it virtually rules the province.

He said the government was making efforts to provide shelter to the citizens and many schemes like Taiser Town, Malir Housing Scheme, Lyari Resettlement Scheme etc, were being developed for the people.The seminar was organized jointly by the Actionaid and Aurat Foundation.

Rafiq Engineer (PPP MPA) said he was informed by the Goth residents that no legal notice was served before demolition. He said that the Sindh Assembly had passed a resolution last year that no Goth would be demolished without following legal procedure.

He also criticized the government policy to provide and develop facilities in selected localities while a majority of the people living in villages were facing neglect.

He said that demolition of villages would result in urban and rural divide.

Former Sindh Minister Imtiaz Shaikh said that the 1985 survey had identified over 860 Goths which had to be regularized, but rather than being regularized these were being demolished.

Father of a man who was killed in police firing during the Goth demolition action claimed that police were threatening him of dire consequences if he did not keep quiet.

Other speakers criticized the allotment of National Stadium land to army officers, and demanded that land be used for specific purposes only.

They said that there was a shortage of over 6 million houses in the country and additionally roughly around 0.5 million new houses were required annually.

They said that the government has not announced any new housing schemes for a long time which forces the needy to approach the land mafia and settle in katchi abadis.

They also alleged that the land mafia had been working in connivance with the land controlling agencies, police and other relevant departments officials.

Iqbal Haider of HRCP, Tasneem Siddiqui, Kaiser Bengali, Anis Haroon and others also spoke.