KARACHI: In Sindh’s sprawling metropolis jam-packed with skyrocketing buildings and fewer open spaces, urban congestion and air pollution pose continual challenges. Of late, contention over a mega construction project — a flyover, two underpasses and a pedestrian subway — that could vandalise the face of a historic part of the city and drill through Jehangir Kothari Parade (1920) and Lady Llyod Pier has forced stakeholders to come into the fray.

Proposed and undertaken by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) with financial assistance from Bahria Town, a private developer, the road infrastructure project is expected to facilitate the operation of Bahria Icon Towers. A 62-storey, multi-use commercial building with seven basement parking floors, and a 41-storey building with apartments, the Bahria Town Icon project is adjacent to the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Clifton and opposite the Bin Qasim Park. So when conservationists, the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and civil society watchdogs took aim at the developer with money to burn and the cash-strapped city government desperate to strike a Faustian bargain, a development versus conservation debate gained momentum.

Petitioned by the DHA stating that the KMC did not undertake the mandatory environmental impact assessment study for this project, the Sindh High Court issued an interim stay order which was lifted on April 12: the developer said it had done the mandatory studies. The next hearing is on April 22. As a result, KMC officials say they will work 200 feet from the historic site so that drilling will not cause the 150-year-old Sri Ratneswar Mahadev temple, located within a few metres of one of the underpasses, to collapse. Mistrust between the project financier (Bahria Town headman Malik Riaz, vilified for giving Rs1.8 billion for the project, is known for his self-contained and state-of-the-art gated residential projects countrywide) courted by the city government and activists fighting to preserve the remnants of Clifton’s pre-partition history and its much-cherished clean air for future generations seems to have left a bitter mark. Both warring sides won’t let up.

In late March, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan expressed concern in a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Jillani seeking his intervention to protect the temple because “ground vibrations from [the] excavation and from the eventual high-density traffic running so close to the temple could cause collapse of this irreplaceable place of worship”. The HRCP chairperson says she was compelled to intervene because this is a place of worship for the Hindu community needing protection. “It is a form of persecution not giving the community space to practise their religion. You hear about mosques being built, but never churches or temples in Pakistan,” Zohra Yusuf says. The CJ asked the KMC and the Sindh chief secretary to report back to him within a fortnight with planning permissions from the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency. Yusuf claims that the mandatory environmental impact assessment (EIA) had not been conducted before the project began and neither was the public informed through the press regarding the impact.

For his part, Rauf Akhtar Farooqui, the KMC administrator, explains that work began on the project only after the initial assessment by the EPA around mid-March. “We live in an urban area with fixed dimensions, so what do we do: go underground or go upwards (overhead),” Mr Farooqui says. “We should decide whether to opt for the mitigation of traffic or not. We have no option as the Icon Tower already has permission from the government: a solution for congestion must be found, given that other high-rise developments are earmarked for this vicinity.” Defending the project, claiming that the city government will “ensure that the sanctity of the Hindu temple will not be compromised at any cost”, he explains that the mode of drilling has now altered from mechanical to manual digging out the ramp of the underpass which will take longer but prove less threatening for the interior facade of the temple situated in a cave. The distance from the ramp to the temple was set at 26 metres initially when the project began, but currently revised to 37 metres, Mr Farooqi says, so the drilling impact is minimal. Whether it was pressure that initiated these changes and whether they will not compromise the ‘sanctity’ of this historic site, or that vested interest by a rival party allegedly exploited citizen anxiety to go to court is conjecture.

Architect Yasmin Lari from the Heritage Foundation — that has catalogued 600 historic buildings declared heritage sites under the Sindh Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Act, 1994 — reminds one of the Sindh government’s restoration of the site in 2007 with balustrades, gardens and a park named after Mohammad Bin Qasim built spending public money for a good cause. She recommends that even if the structures are not destroyed, measures should be taken to strengthen them with barricades and demolished boundary walls rebuilt. Pollution from construction material and debris will have a negative impact on the Jodhpur and Gizri stone. She explains that because the pavilion is close to the excavation which means digging deeper than the foundation of this site, soil from around the existing foundation could be displaced.

Cliftonians baulk in disbelief because this relatively clean locale with its semblance of peace, Karachi’s families visiting to take in a weekend of entertainment, clean air and perhaps some food and a camel ride on the beach, has also partially been taken away.

Increased congestion, says architect Shahid Abdullah, is to blame. His firm of architects and engineers, Arshad Shahid Abdullah, has designed the Icon Towers, but doesn’t “have a say beyond the boundary of the property”. He claims he was unaware of the road infrastructure changes until he read about it in the newspaper. With the jarring presence of underpasses and flyovers in other parts of the city, angered residents were kept in the dark by the city government. “Karachiites have the right to know what this scheme is all about because this is their city and this [project] has something to do with transparency and governance. Why has it not been advertised, comments not invited and public viewing carried out for the impact [of the project] to be assessed,” asks Ms Lari. No detailed drawings have been made available for viewing by the city government. Protecting heritage under attack from development in a densely populated city as Karachi should make urban developers more cautious regarding the scope and magnitude of projects undertaken, if it weren’t for the big profits, say observers. Abdullah’s towering project may be confined to state-of-the-art design with advanced technology, but the impact will be far-reaching, as he says “development must be done intelligently”.

PML-N parliamentarian Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, representing the Pakistan Hindu Council, is stressed that the movement and vibration caused by the drilling will threaten the foundations of temple. “I am not against development but the safety of the Mandir must be prioritised and access needs to be made easier once the flyover is constructed. We need another gate and a boundary wall to facilitate visitors and parking.”

When I speak to Hindu families dressed in brightly coloured clothing making their way to the temple, silently struggling through the deep, open ditch, covered in flying dust, they are unwilling to complain, grateful having safely reached their sanctuary for worship. Inside the temple, I hear another story of devotees lying down in the ditch the night before protesting against the drilling that had restarted. The roof of the cave is already chipping, and debris visible. It’s a packed Monday evening with many travelling from as far as Malir to pray on the last day of the nine-day Navaratha Festival when the Goddess Durga is venerated as she embodies the power of creation, preservation and destruction. Worship of the goddess bestows wealth, knowledge and prosperity. A young microbiologist enthusiastically explains the festival, drawing my attention to the free food distribution in a corner. In an open courtyard, a towering glass structure houses a decorated god. Resounding melodious voices remind one of a trusting sense of misjudged calm. An ancient, tough willow with gnarled grey-brown roots firmly stands witness, tucked below a green marble stairway as the Clifton breeze protects us for that tranquil moment before the sun dips into the Arabian ocean.