APROPOS the article ‘Violent protest breaks out against anti-encroachment drive in Karachi’s Ahsanabad area’ (Aug 26).

I request the senior judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to make an informed decision about our Karachi — a city which is being treated worse than an orphan.

Previous governments have sucked the city’s finances and assets dry and nobody from the federal or provincial government is interested in owning and embracing this growing metropolis. Citizens complain about electricity and water supplies. Is there no respite for the Karachiite?

The recent cleanup in Ahsanabad turned violent as the police “resorted to teargas shelling and a baton charge as protesters set vehicles on fire and blocked Superhighway (now Motorway) in protest against an anti-encroachment drive”.

The drive, the news piece added, was being carried out under directions of the apex court.

“As the authorities concerned backed by law enforcers tried to remove encroachments from ‘green belts’, parks and other amenity plots, area residents put up resistance and a portion of Ahsanabad turned into a battlefield of the protesters and the police.”

Encroachments have existed in this city for more than half a century. Why was nothing done earlier? If moves are being made to rid the city of this burden, maybe the courts and the government should have met stakeholders and residents to discuss alternative housing.

Khalid Tirmizi

London, UK

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2019