KARACHI: The Sindh Indigenous Rights Alliance held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday to “lay bare the facts” regarding the Bahria Town Karachi (BTK) protest and sit-in of June 6.

Yousuf Mastikhan of SIRA said that they had been protesting for some seven years now to highlight the issue of the indigenous people of Sindh whose lands had been pulled away from right underneath their very feet for the construction of big housing schemes and posh localities.

“We are pro-people, we are not anti-state, which is now being said about us,” he said.

“Last week, we decided to hold a peaceful protest and sit-in outside the Bahria Town main gate with all the people of the province, who wanted to raise their voice against the injustice of taking over people’s ancestral lands here. I repeat, it was a peaceful protest. We were there from the morning, playing songs and delivering speeches. Then in the afternoon, we heard a lot of noise from inside Bahria Town. Next, we saw huge flames as we saw the main gate burning,” he narrated.

‘Your resources, your utilities are all being diverted to Bahria Town’

“Then the police arrived and arrested some 150 of our people. Next, there were some 28 FIRs registered against us. It was all a conspiracy to turn a peaceful protest into a violent incident. But we say that you may arrest us, you may register FIRs against us, but we will still go on protesting, which is our right,” he said, adding that they would all come out again to protest on June 23.

“Sindh is a land of peaceful people. There is no terrorism here. I repeat: we are pro-people, we are not anti-state, and we condemn what happened at Bahria Town on June 6. In order to look into what actually happened there on the day, we have also formed a committee comprising myself, Khaliq Junejo, Khuda Dino Shah, Hanif Dilmurad and Khaskheli,” he said.

“Bahria Town and other townships like it that are coming up have water, power, good roads ... you name it. Meanwhile, the main Karachi city has broken roads, no water, and power outages. Your resources, your utilities are all being diverted to Bahria Town,” he pointed out.

Khaliq Junejo named other projects that have also come up just like Bahria Town in Sindh. “There is Bahria Town and there are also DHA City, Thar Coal, etc. They are all a part of 21st century colonisation,” he said.

Rights activist Naghma Iqtedar said the protest of June 6 was completely peaceful until the government made it look like the protesters were the troublemakers. “It’s all a conspiracy,” she said.

Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation said that projects for the good of the people of Karachi were being abandoned in favour of projects such as Bahria Town or DHA City.

“Meanwhile, people are being rendered homeless even though the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees a roof over people’s heads. What is happening is against the Constitution.”

Abdul Khaliq of Lyari said that the state had started building cities within cities. “And while you do that there are displacements, which give way to poverty, hunger and violence. Please tell us where are our women and children are supposed to go? Here, even children are arrested if they raise their voices against injustices,” he said.

Riaz Ahmed, a teacher at the University of Karachi, said that all the politicians also seem to be with people like Malik Riaz. “And because of this instead of catching the real culprits, the innocent are being harassed. They are creating divides by building posh cities with a city,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2021