KARACHI: The Women Action Forum (WAF) on Thursday registered its strong protest against ongoing anti-encroachment drive for demolition of shops, houses and workplaces in various parts of the teeming metropolis and demanded it should be stopped forthwith.

“WAF is shocked and angry at the demolition of shops and homes in different parts of Karachi. In the name of the illegality of encroachment small businesses and livelihoods have been destroyed.

The process has been unilateral and colonial whereby no attempt has been made to hold dialogue with the affected people and help them resettle before the sudden dismemberment of their economic base,” said activists belonging to the WAF in a letter to Mayor Wasim Akhtar.

‘The inabilitty to protect the metropolis from encroachment does not give anyone the right to destroy livelihoods of small traders’

They said the destruction had severely-affected small businesses and livelihoods, chiefly of those who hailed from lower socio-economic groups.

“WAF believes the state is responsible for the well-being of all its citizens and should ensure their livelihood. If the state had failed to protect the city from encroachment it does not give it the right to destroy the livelihood of small traders and vendors.”

The activists regretted that a unilateral approach had been adopted during the exercise as “no attempt was ever made to take into confidence or hold dialogue with inhabitants of the targeted areas, including urban peripheries.

“Sudden dismemberment of properties was said to have severely compromised the economic base of affected population as most of them have no alternative options to sustain their living.”

WAF believed justice should be equally applied, and Karachi must be governed by the people of Karachi and in a democratic manner.

Demanding that destruction must stop immediately, it asked the mayor to make sure a dialogue between the affected and the city administration must be commenced.

Besides, they demanded that those who initially authorised the encroachments in Karachi, especially what was referred to as ‘china cutting’ should be identified and the responsible must be made to compensate the ones who now suffered.

Anis Haroon, a WAF member, said the authorities should not make up a political issue out of a pure human dilemma.

The activists asked the civil society of the city to organise a dialogue between the housing experts, lawyers, rights groups, city administration, legislators, and the affected people to outline a plan that gave pathways of rehabilitation and compensation to those affected within three months.

“Two wrongs do not make a right. If the encroachments were illegal, their unilateral destruction is unethical. Encroachments are a failure of the government to provide physical space for trade, for work, and to eat and relax. Encroachments are also a failure of the state to control the powerful to appropriate physical space through manipulation and connivance.”

They condemned the discriminatory attitude exhibited by the Karachi authorities in the recent campaign to remove encroachments which they called as illegal.

Regretting over the “insensitivity shown towards the plight of thousands of people”, the activists inquired as to how such a campaign was initiated without offering certain resettlement provision for those expected to abandon sites that were their homes and workplaces for past several years.

“[The] inability to protect the metropolis from encroachment does not give any one the right to destroy livelihoods of small traders and vendors.”

‘No action’ against big businesses slammed

They condemned the discrimination allegedly committed during the ongoing campaign with ‘no action’ taken against big businesses and influential individuals and organisations that had encroached upon public property with absolute impunity.

Attention in this context was drawn towards the expensive properties which were built on amenity plots for parking lots, parks and hospitals and building codes were violated with impunity to make them lavish, luxurious and profitable.

Unauthorised expansion of private properties, owned by influential and resourceful sections, was cited to be nothing unusual in Karachi, with little action ever taken against those encroachers.

“Action be taken against all those who initially authorised encroachment in the city, particularly in the name of china cutting.”

The activists further demanded that people, officials and groups responsible for encroachments must be made to compensate for the loss and inconvenience caused to marginalised sections hoodwinked over the years by unscrupulous elements.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2019