KARACHI, Oct 12: Leaders representing civil society organisations, political parties and communities have criticised the development policies of the government, saying that these policies were being framed in the larger interests of a privileged class instead of the poor.

By and large, they argued that these policies were not pro-people and were prepared to serve the interests of global capital and people were not consulted. In this regard, they slammed the recent allotment of two islands for developing a modern city and termed it a sheer violation of the historical right of the fishing communities and an environmental disaster.

They were speaking at a consultative meeting convened by an NGO Shirkat Gah and Pakistan Mahigeer Tehrik on Wednesday evening.

Renowned urban development expert Arif Hasan said the project was not for the needy and the poor and it would rather benefit the elite class of the society.

According to him, the project is a part of the ongoing beach side development plan which aims to create investment friendly environment for global capital.

Giving a grim picture of the future, Mr Hasan argued a new world class and

culture would be developed and this class would have no connection with the local people, who would be uprooted from their ancestral land.

He said that Sindh would face the worst situation because of its coastline and stressed the need for joint efforts to counter it.

Maintaining that there is an international law of development, Mr Hasan said that there should be no development without the consultation of people.

Mr Tahir Qureshi, a leading expert on coastal natural resources said that the two islands possessed pristine environment and rich biodiversity and the area was a gateway to the open sea used by the local fishermen.

He also said mangroves plantation done on the islands would be threatened with the development of the proposed city; as a result a natural shield against violent cyclones would be destroyed.

Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamote, a prominent figure of coastal communities condemned the project, saying that the development of a new city at the Karachi coast would be done at the cost of the livelihood of fishermen communities.

He said that the coastal communities had not received any benefit from the development projects of Karachi city so far and went on to warn that the fishing communities would resist projects being launched to deprive them of their centuries old livelihood.

Barrister Zamir argued that land of any province belonged to its people and administratively under the control of provincial board of revenue who could alone decide the ownership of the land by adopting due legal process and there was a procedure for it described in the legal system for disposal of the land.

He said that no federal or provincial government had any right to acquire any land without adopting prescribed legal procedures adding that there was a total violation of law in the allotment of land in Sindh’s coastline.

He slammed the rulers for disregarding sovereignty of the people, saying that such actions would create disharmony among the people.

Sikandar Brohi, a prominent environmentalist also condemned the government’s proposed project on the Sindh coast, saying that it would cause disaster to the city. He also criticised the federal government for not taking the provincial government and the local representatives into confidence on the issue.

PPP leaders Haji Muzzafar Ali Shujra and Taj Haider also spoke on the occasion. They also blasted the government for adopting anti-people development policies causing unrest among the people and warned that if the rulers failed to mend their ways, the country’s integrity would be endangered.

Earlier, Najma Sadiq of the Shirkat Gah and Zubeda Birwani of the Pakistan Mahigeer Tehrik explained the theme of the meeting and welcomed the speakers.