Anti-encroachment drive
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JUSTICE is blind, and so it should be. Sometimes however, this can run counter to human needs and compulsions.
The ongoing anti-encroachment drive in Karachi can be seen as one example.
Since the Supreme Court’s Oct 27 order that encroachments be removed from Saddar within 15 days before the operation is extended to the rest of the city, personnel from the KMC and other civic bodies have demolished over 1,000 shops and other illegal structures in the area.
Signboards exceeding the mandated dimensions have also been pulled down.
Mayor Wasim Akhtar has promised that the iconic Empress Market will be transformed into a model heritage site.
Regrettably, the demolition exercise caught most of affected vendors and the public off guard.
Protesting shopkeepers alleged that an agreement with the Karachi commissioner, which gave them a few days to remove their goods, furniture etc from the shops, had not been honoured.
No doubt that Karachi, groaning under the weight of a huge population dependent on dwindling resources and a crumbling infrastructure, has become an urban nightmare.
The free-for-all has to be arrested and the law implemented if a semblance of sanity is to be restored.
Saddar and the old city areas are a logical place to start because they are already extremely congested, where encroachments pose added risk to life and limb.
However, KMC, that has undertaken the task with such gusto is itself largely responsible for the mushrooming of encroachments.
If the law had been assiduously applied from the beginning, instead of matters being allowed to deteriorate in exchange for illegal benefits, such drastic action would not have been necessary, nor so many livelihoods threatened.
Surely, a reasonable grace period could also have been given, and legal recourse to alternative space offered to the affected vendors, many of whom have little to fall back on.
Illegality cannot be condoned, but such a ruthless enforcement of the law is discomfiting.
Moreover, will KMC ensure that such encroachments will not reappear once again?
Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018
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Comments (28) Closed
Nov 14, 2018 08:57am
Officials, be that from Police or any other LEA, are supposed to serve the general public & need to be taught in their trainings, how to deal with public, violators of the law, a lot humanely & respectfully. There should have been given enough notice to all these violating vendors, to remove & relocate their shops/shacks/carts. The garbage left behind by this drive, also be immediately cleared & entire area turned into clean green space.
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Nov 14, 2018 11:00am
All this is for the have-nots. When was the last time we heard this type of operation being done against the rich.
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Nov 14, 2018 11:26am
The points raised are genuine particularly the issue of reappearance of encroachments. However, now that the action had been completed,it is of utmost importance that anti encroachment drive in rest of Karachi should be completed with same fervor lest another issue of selective implementation of law creates more heart burning in the general public already affected due to demolition of their business / structures.
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Nov 14, 2018 11:52am
Law is not only blind but also not capable of going upstairs to get to those who occupy high stations. It's the poor who are always at the receiving end of justice!
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Nov 14, 2018 01:02pm
Similar action needed from Guru Mandir to Sohrab Goth specially Liaquat Abad.
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Nov 14, 2018 01:02pm
"Regrettably, the demolition exercise caught most of affected vendors and the public off guard." I liked the term "off guard". So these vendors couldn't see how these areas are saturated and causing harm to everyone including their own business, and thought that it will continue eternally. They were not off guard, they know it since they were allowed to install their shop illegally by the administration. They maybe "off guard" about the precise timing, but certainly not about the end result. Hope they learn a lesson and do not deal with corrupt officials in the future.
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Nov 14, 2018 01:15pm
"Illegality cannot be condoned, but such a ruthless enforcement of the law is discomfiting." If ruthless law enforcement is discomforting to you, then you are actually condoning illegality. Law is meant to be ruthlessly enforced. If it is discomforting to you, please close down the jails abolish all punishment fro the law. What is more discomforting than jails. Why should these people be punished and others be given "compensation" for breaking the law? Because they had paid powerful to allow them to break the law?
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Nov 14, 2018 02:34pm
@Abbas kd , "There should have been given enough notice to all these violating vendors, to remove & relocate their shops/shacks/carts." Were they not given for more than three decades? They were here illegally from the start and paid a heavy sum to keep on running business till now. They manged to delay the notice till now. It was their decision to occupy illegally. If they think that they have been duped by the officials, they can file a case in the SC telling who allowed them and how much they paid for it. It is not the SC's job to accommodate someone it finds violating the law.
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Nov 14, 2018 02:34pm
Bring sadar Karachi back to pre partition galory.
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Nov 14, 2018 02:46pm
KMC officials had earlier taken bribes to allow these shops illegally. Now they are acting saint and demolishing shops. The real winners are KMC officials.
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Nov 14, 2018 03:02pm
Alternate and affordable market places and spaces should be given to those who want to work. Micro entrepreneurs should be supported and encouraged to operate shops and businesses at affordable cost
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Nov 14, 2018 03:37pm
@BAXAR, well said Sir. Perhaps Dawn should give you the job of writing editorials.
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Nov 14, 2018 05:22pm
This act is so wrong its not a way 40 years old shops these shops are 100 percent legal government should pay for it
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Nov 14, 2018 05:45pm
These shopkeepers never gave any penny to govt treasure ever! Good they are removed .
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Nov 14, 2018 06:26pm
If the record is checked there would be more than ten times a grace period would have been given to those vendors and shopkeepers to remove their material before the deadline but they would somehow managed to obtain political support to pend the action indefinitely. The administration has always been critical on the politicians who for the own sake and popularity allows or orders these kind of encroachments in the City by compelling the officers either not to do anything or become a part of the beneficiary of this mess. And this has been a rule in Karachi, one shop for politician three for the concerned officers. Police, KMC, KDA etc
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Nov 14, 2018 06:36pm
They need to revive all the beautiful old buildings of Saddar area. I saw them through the eyes of foreign photographers visiting the city. In the comments section of YouTube non-Pakistanis marvelled at the beauty of colonial buildings where Pakistanis saw run down areas.
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Nov 14, 2018 08:10pm
I would agree with Mayor on this one. If time is given to the illegally constructed shops then they would have a plan to counter government plan. Maybe perhaps they would bring in groups to create violence or disturbance.
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Nov 14, 2018 08:33pm
Damn if you do and damn if you don't. Okay, I agree, this mess is the creation of Karanchi's civic bodies but when they do the right thing we should support them and not oppose them. One needs to start from somewhere.
Yes, this action will create a lot of hardship for all those people who have build those illegal structures and are doing business that was basically illegal. Yes, we should have sympathy for them but they knew it very well that what they are doing is illegal.
You can look at the situation two ways: 1) they were doing business for 50 years and this was their bread and butter 2) they took advantage of the situation for 50 years and made a hell of a money plus no rent, no income taxes, free electricity etc. In the West if you occupy a space illegaly, it is brought down immediately with no notices or negotiations.Pak needs to stop having sympathy for illegal and criminal activity and promote the culture of one must follow the law no matter what even if it is your own kin.
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Nov 14, 2018 08:37pm
@Kamran Arain, That has also begun. With the rich it's a case by case basis.
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Nov 14, 2018 08:44pm
It's great initiative yet it lacks proper planning. This drive will leave thousands of hawkers without work and there families to suffer. an alternative should have been provided before hand.
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Nov 14, 2018 11:01pm
I completely agree with and intensely feel where this editorial is coming from. In this particular case justice should have been mellowed with management design: Systems planning, direction and flow, and an organizational gestalt, with some compassion thrown in.
I am very much saddened to see what has happened here. For some reason I had initially thought that 'Naya Pakistan' would default to win win solutions rather than to blind justice coupled with brute force.
Destroying livelihoods should never be any part of the equation in an economy where people are barely making it to the next days meal and shelter.
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Nov 14, 2018 11:18pm
Let's see when supreme courtwill take notice and order the demolition of wall along the road built for the 'safety ' of Bilawal House.'
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Nov 14, 2018 11:43pm
How about making rule for signage. All signage to be approved by the city before installation.
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Nov 15, 2018 01:05am
Their settlements were illegal based on bribes. And they had it running for a very long time. Hopefully this will deter others to think twice before setting up shop on properties not belonging to them. The only concern is for KMC to maintain vigilance against encroachments.
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Nov 15, 2018 01:26am
Karachi has some amazing architecture that has been neglected and allowed to deteriorate.
Many grand buildings are hidden behind ugly stalls, and once smart-looking streets that were ideal for a stroll now look run down and unappealing, and Karachi is robbed of its history. However, rectifying this situation is no easy task. Many factors must be taken into account, and everything has to be well coordinated.
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Nov 15, 2018 01:50am
Lets not let perfection be the enemy of good. Yes things could have been done in a better manner - and they should in the future. But if trying to get everything right would mean that resources would be tied up and other projects would suffer - it is better that things are done; even if not perfectly.
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Nov 15, 2018 01:51am
Good work. Get rid of all encroachments. There will always be people who will whine.
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Nov 15, 2018 02:05am
@BAXAR
When the powerful occupy the land, this occupation become Legalized with some gimmicks, Master Plan get changed to get align with the ground reality. but when the poor do the same even at a very small scale, the Law of the Land comes into action with its full force and ruthlessness.
One may say that
Some Thing Is Better Than Nothing!
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