KARACHI: “We are not encroachers. We are affectees of a government-backed project,” said Sagheer Ahmed, a community activist, about the displaced people of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) during an eviction and displacement dialogue organised by the Karachi Urban Lab at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) main campus here on Friday.

“Many people’s homes in areas such as Gharibabad, Quaid-i-Azam Colony, Musa Goth, Mujahid Colony, etc, in district Central have been completely razed or partially demolished. And these people who are hand to mouth anyway have no money or resources to fight back. They don’t even know what to do or whom to go to for help,” he said, adding that it had been six months now since they have been living in miserable conditions.

“They spent Ramazan under the open sky, they spent two Eids that way too and after that there were the heavy rains,” he pointed out.

Rubina Naz, a schoolteacher whose house was also demolished, said that it was the women who were suffering the most. “The kitchens in their tiny homes were demolished along with the bathrooms. They have been deprived of privacy,” she said.

“Earlier, they used to go to their neighbours living a street or two behind their homes to use their bathrooms but after tolerating them for a few days, their neighbours are also turning their backs on them now. For food, without kitchens they can’t always buy food from outside so there is a big issue there as well,” she said.

A schoolteacher laments that despite demolition of their houses, the revival of KCR is still not in sight

“These were not big houses. They were tiny roofs over our heads built little by little over a long period of time with whatever little money [we] could save up and they were demolished as if they were nothing,” she said.

“And after bulldozing our homes, we see no progress in the KCR project too. Only thing they do is peek into our broken walls whenever we try to hang a curtain or build a makeshift partition anywhere to warn us against reconstruction of our homes,” she said.

Advocate Ali Shah, also a resident of one of the affected settlements, said that when the revival of KCR was announced in 2009 there was also a survey carried out to know how many would be affected and how many needed to be resettled.

“There were around 5,000 homes which were said to be too close to the tracks and hence in the way with more than 40,000 families. Thereafter there was also a plan to resettle them near Juma Goth, which didn’t happen,” he said.

“The cleaning-up operation around the tracks was a violation of the National Relocation Policy as families were not relocated to a new place before demolishing their homes. The policy, too, is still in draft form even after 18 years. Meanwhile, children can’t study for their tests or exams, and people are falling ill under the open sky,” he said.

Zahid Farooq of the Urban Resource Centre said that on one hand there was the KCR and on the other there was the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. And between these two the government was confused about what to build, what not to build and what to demolish, he added.

“They have already demolished two flyovers near the Matric Board Office for the Green Line bus service. Meanwhile, around 11,000 people are living on debris as their homes have also been demolished to open space for the KCR tracks,” he said.

‘Reroute KCR’

“We are not against the KCR. But the KCR tracks are broken and old. Earlier, they used to take you to the SITE area, the Fisheries, etc. Towns such as Surjani, Baldia, etc were not there back then. The KCR failed after these new towns came up and the wagons and wagon drivers arrived on the scene to transport people from there to their places of work. Now the youth have got bicycles and motorcycles too. So who is going to use the KCR? Because it seems where the KCR is really needed, it has no access. It needs to be revisited and rerouted,” he pointed out.

Another guest who spoke on the occasion was Mohammad Rizwan, a member of the Quarters Mutasirin Committee. He explained that their case was slightly different as they had not been displaced but were threatened with eviction. Still, staying united the residents of places such as Pakistan Quarters, Jamshed Quarters, etc have till now managed to stay put.

“Our problem goes back to after Partition. The people working for the government were settled in these quarters, which we knew were only a temporary arrangement. But then the people living in these quarters were told that they can be turned into permanent residences for them so they also spent their savings on renovations. In 2004, they were also issued some certificates to prove their residency and told that the certificates will be followed by proper lease making them legal owners of their homes,” he explained.

“But then the Supreme Court ordered their eviction while terming their living in the quarters post-retirement illegal. That’s when police from three districts arrived to forcibly vacate the quarters with water cannons and tear gas. Of course, the residents resisted and the court also stopped the action. The residents are the biggest stakeholders and they have now formed within themselves youth committees and committees of elderly residents who meet weekly and every day, respectfully. So they are united for the same cause and thus cannot be thrown out easily,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2019