KARACHI, Feb 7: Scores of residents of Hazara Colony turned violent on Saturday and blocked the main railway track for several hours in protest against an operation launched by the Pakistan Railways to remove what it described as encroachments on its land.
Witnesses said that on Saturday morning at about 9.30am a railway team equipped with heavy machinery and backed by the railway police reached Hazara Colony, near Kala Pul, to demolish unauthorised structures on the directives of the railway’s divisional superintendent (DS). They said the team demolished the outer walls of two houses before coming close to the office of a political party which the team also wanted to demolish.
The railway team met with strong resistance as enraged people pelted the team members with stones, forcing them to leave the area.
However, minutes after the incident, the protesters gathered on the railway tracks and staged a sit-in in protest against what they described as the illegal action of the railway authorities.
Some of the protesters carried the tri-colour flags of the Pakistan People’s Party. The protesters blocked the main railway track, stopped a passing passenger train and some railway engines and pelted them with stones.
Raising slogans against the railway authorities, the protesters said they had been living in the area for the past 30 years and they would not allow anyone to demolish their homes in the name of an anti-encroachment operation.
Due to the blockade of the tracks, the railway authorities had no option but to suspend rail traffic and stop trains at other stations.
Witnesses said the DS of Railways, Mir Mohammad Khaskheli, accompanied by a contingent of railway police, reached the scene and reportedly asked the agitators to end their blockade otherwise he would use force against them.
The protesters refused to oblige him, and the police started a baton-charge against them, lobbed teargas canisters into the crowd and fired into the air. The protesters ran for cover but returned within minutes and blocked the rail tracks again.
However, the sources said that backchannel negotiations were held between the local leadership of the political party and the railway authorities after which the latter assured the former that no further operation would be carried out and the protesters lifted the blockade.
Talking to Dawn, an office-bearer of the PPP District South, Shahbaz Akhtar, said the railway team tried to demolish the party’s office (city area 113) in Hazara Colony, causing the residents to see red. “We had recently renovated the office, but the railway authorities wanted to demolish it. We were informed on Friday night about a possible action and we were prepared when they (the team) arrived,” he added.
PPP blames Railways for rumpus
Though admitting that supporters of the Pakistan People’s Party were involved in Saturday’s melee which occurred after Pakistan Railway authorities tried to launch an anti-encroachment drive in Hazara Colony, the party’s acting provincial information secretary and Special Assistant to the Chief Minister, Syed Waqar Mehdi, claimed that the Railway authorities acted in haste and should have given notice if they wanted to carry out the operation.
“Party people were involved. However, the Railways’ divisional superintendent did not inform the residents. Notices should have been issued. We have talked to the Railways authorities. They should have informed our party,” he said in response to Dawn’s queries.He claimed that PPP leaders helped mediate an end to the dispute, which saw the protesters clash with law-enforcement officers, while railway traffic was also suspended for some time as the protesters blocked the tracks.
“We are against illegal encroachments. We will never support them. However, new encroachments must not be clustered with old katchi abadis and goths, some of which are three to four decades old. If the Railways officials hadn’t acted in such haste, the issue wouldn’t have gotten out of hand. They should have at least given one week’s notice. If the area nazim or the cantonment board had been involved in the matter, the problem could have been solved. We are willing to help,” Mr Mehdi added.
When asked if it was true that Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had called off the anti-encroachment operation, Mr Mehdi said the Sindh Assembly had passed a resolution which protected old goths and settlements from being uprooted.
“The resolution exists. This was an old settlement. We want everything done through dialogue. Not everything can be solved through police action. We have contacted Railway Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and complained to him about the (local) Railways authorities.”
Nine trains delayed
At least nine trains were delayed from 30 minutes to three hours at different stations as traffic on the main line remained suspended on Saturday following a demonstration by people protesting against an anti-encroachment operation by the railway authorities, said an official.
Mir Mohammad Khaskheli, the Karachi railway chief, said the railways had started the operation to clear railway land from encroachments, along the Loco Road, on Saturday morning and the land was retrieved.
He said that soon after the operation was launched a crowd gathered and blocked the main line near Kala Pul, suspending train service, and somebody fired gunshots and the railway police also responded.
A local PPP leader, Saif-ur-Rehman, tried to persuade the railway officials to stop the operation against encroachers and remove the railway police.
After negotiations, the mob dispersed and the train service was restored at around 1pm. An FIR was registered against the instigators and the mob. The matter was also discussed with the convener of the Senate Standing Committee on Railways at a meeting in the afternoon.
The trains detained were: 33 Up (Super express), 160 minutes at Karachi Cantt; 18 Down (Millat express), 160 minutes outside Karachi Cantt; 46 Dn (Pakistan express) 150 minutes, outside Karachi Cantt; 150 Dn (Mehran express) 110 minutes at Drigh Road; 10 Dn (Allama Iqbal express), 100 minutes at Drigh Road; 42 Dn (Korakoram express), 60 minutes at Landhi; 42 Dn (Korakoram Express) 25 minutes at Malir; 8 Dn (Tezgam) 50 minutes at Landhi; and 38 Dn (Fareed express) 30 minutes at Landhi.
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