A LARGE weekly bazaar, namely peer bazaar was held at Malir Cantonment checkpost until 2007. However, for security reasons the bazaar was closed.

After that, two weekly bazaars — peer bazaar and jumerat bazaar — were being held for the last eight years along Model Colony railway station in Malir. The two bazaars catered to the needs of a large population of mostly poor and middle class people by providing daily-use items, clothing, etc., at cheaper rates.

The bazaars were also a source of income for hundreds of vendors, mostly young men, who could not afford permanent shops in markets. While buyers came from all ethnic groups, vendors included two major ethnic groups in Karachi — Urdu-speaking and Pakhtuns.

This provided a good and healthy opportunity for interaction between different ethnic groups, which is the need of the hour to create an environment of coexistence in Karachi.

Also, owing to the bazaars’ arrangements, the contractors kept the area very clean. However, three weeks ago, the two bazaars were suddenly shut by the Sindh government and Rangers on the grounds that some elements were extracting money from the vendors. It is strange enough that the vendors kept coming and providing goods at reasonable prices despite paying extortion for so many years.

Here it is important to mention that when the Peer bazaar was held at Malir Cantonment, the cantonment authorities charged a stall fee from vendors and parking fee from visitors.

On closure of the bazaars when the area people approached the office of a political party that has representation in the assemblies from this area, the party men stated they had themselves unwillingly decided not to move the authorities in this regard because the bazaar was tarnishing the image of the party.

Whatever the reasons behind this sudden closure of the bazaars, this action has deprived thousands of poor people of low-priced goods and also rendered hundreds of vendors unemployed.

It is feared that garbage dumps will soon emerge again in the area as was before the start of the bazaars.

Raihan A. K. Lodhi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2015

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