KARACHI: One speaker after another highlighted the adverse effects of Bahria Town projects on ancient parts of Karachi at a seminar titled ‘Chaotic urbanisation and its impact on the historical places of Karachi’ organised by the international relations department of Karachi University on Wednesday.

The detailed presentations by some of the speakers revealed a depressing state of affairs except for some out-of-the-box solutions suggested by urban architect and planner Arif Hasan which if taken up by the concerned speakers, may offer a glimmer of hope.

Initial speakers Saleem Baloch Kalamati and chairperson of the IR department Prof Mutahir Ahmed spoke about poor planning and uneven development happening in the city over the past few decades, which was further being intensified when developers like Malik Riaz were given a free hand in the city to implement their real estate schemes “without any consideration” to the basic needs of the larger population already living in the city.

“This is a city that already has problems in the transport, health, education, water, social and political sectors and this will be aggravated further when outside migration will take place due to Bahria town projects in the city. The Sindh government and particularly the town planning department should look into this but it seems they are sleeping,” said Mr Kalamati. “There is this man who is behind this development outside Karachi and he has become larger than the state. He is creating a large city on the periphery of an already burgeoning metropolis and it is being called development. This development is for the rich and is uneven.”

Dr Rukhman Palari of the KU Sindhi department gave specific examples of how this city’s ancient sites had been ‘wrecked’ and how currently Bahria Town was ‘usurping’ it.

“For the past 10 years in Deh Jam Chakro in Malir nearly 3,000 tonnes of garbage is dumped and burnt daily and this is the place that Shah Latif Bhitai mentions Sassui’s foot. And where the grand mosque of Bahria Town is being planned, this is the location of Shah Latif Bhitai’s takia.”

Civic activist Roland DeSouza of the non-profit Shehri-Citizens for Better Environment gave a detailed presentation on laws that were supposed to protect cultural sites, blatant violations of those laws due to bribery, the ‘extensive damage’ caused by the Bahria Town projects on heritage sites and urged citizens to fight back.

He cited about six laws under which 600 heritage buildings were notified and protected; however, some were denotified and some demolished because the government departments meant to protect these sites, including the Environmental Protection Agency, were apathetic towards civic interests and more interested in fulfilling the builder’s interests.

“I once met an Environmental Impact Assessment official at the federal level and he said to me: ‘EIA ka kaam hai haram ko halal banana’ (it is the job of EIA to made illegal work legal).”

Condemning the builders, Mr DeSouza said that the builders’ interest was temporary and financial but it was the citizens who had to live with the consequences for a long time. “You must realise this and fight back.”

Coming to the Bahria Town projects, he said the one at Jehangir Kothari Parade, the Bahria Icon Tower, had caused destruction to adjacent heritage sites and encroached upon a public park.

He lamented the apathy of government officials, including the chief secretary and senior minister Nisar Khuhro to whom he had written letters and sent pictorial ‘evidence’ of the ruin caused by the Bahria Icon Tower project, but they never bothered to respond to his missives.

Historian Gul Hassan Kalamati’s made a pictorial presentation of the extent to which Bahria Town was ‘appropriating’ historical sites dating back to thousands of years in Karachi.

According to him, the grave of Haji Notak who had fought the British, ancient cup crevices, Buddhist stupa marks, ancient Zoroastrian graves, graves built in the manner of Chawkandi in Meher Jabal, all of these were taken over by the Bahria Town project, situated nine kilometres away from the toll plaza on the Karachi-Hyderabad Superhighway.

Arif Hasan, architect and planner, offered an unusual solution to stall the unimpeded degradation of Karachi. “In my opinion a couple of things need to be done. There should be a heavy non-utilisation fee for any unused land. There should be land ceiling act whereby no one is allowed to acquire more than 500 sq yards of land.”

He urged Mr Kalamati and his associates to document all that they have seen, make a synopsis, build a strong case, create a ruckus in the media and at least have these ancient sites declared as heritage sites.

He cited personal examples of doing all this and being successful. But Mr Hasan pointed out that earlier when they would create noise about contentious projects, the government officials would at least talk. “Now they don’t even talk. The entire government machinery is being run on bribes. This would have been made into an election issue, if it had been done in Bolivia and Brazil.”

“But till then it is best to talk to Malik Riaz, since he in fact is the de facto government,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play