KARACHI: Awami Nati­onal Party Sindh chapter president Shahi Syed has warned the anti-encroachment cell to desist from demolishing 1,250 shops of the Empress Market and Omar Farooqui Market without giving them notice in the cover of order of the Supreme Court because demolition of shops would deprive thousands of families of livelihood.

Speaking at the protest sit-in of shopkeepers on Friday, Shahi Syed demanded alternative places for shopkeepers from whom the KMC was collecting rents for many decades and appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to constitute a special committee comprising stakeholders of the two markets to resolve the issue.

He said the ANP had all regards for the orders of the apex court and that it would not make any hurdle in demolition of encroachments.

The traders of Empress Market and Omar Farooqui Market had been paying rent to the KMC for the past 50 years and as such any act of depriving them from carrying out their business deserved condemnation, he added.

He said that the previous two mayors of the city had given the shops of the two markets formal approval and letters in this regard were with the shopkeepers.

Mr Syed said that giving them three-hour notices to vacate the shops was regrettable.

He said the KMC had built 69 such markets in Karachi, but why action was being taken against only two markets.

He expressed surprise that the KMC was receiving rents from shops and also declaring them illegal.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2018