The Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) is currently conducting an anti-encroachment drive aimed at reclaiming illegally occupied land. The operation is being conducted on the orders of Supreme Court to demolish the Pavilion End Club and end all commercial activities on an amusement park in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.
This anti-encroachment drive once again highlights the plight of the urban poor in Pakistan’s cities. This drive is in fact a product of the state’s flawed model of development which seeks to turn our urban spaces into neat and organised urban cities with the poor pushed to the margins.
The Supreme Court Order
The Supreme Court ordered the local administration in Karachi to demolish the Pavilion End Club and end all commercial activities on an amusement park in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.
The court directed the Karachi administrator to immediately demolish the club and end other commercial activities on the park’s premises and file a compliance report within two days.
The apex court further asked the administrator to develop the premises along with an adjacent plot — on which illegal construction was recently removed — into a park or green belt.
The real issue
Illegal construction is definitely a big problem in Karachi, but issuing demolition orders without determining who is responsible is a wrong move. Despite being the economic hub of the entire country, no government has tried to stop the destruction of this city.
All institutions, including Karachi Development Authority (KDA), KMC, cantonment boards and revenue department are involved in destroying the city. Today Karachi has become a jungle of high-rise buildings, air pollution has increased to such an extent that it is impossible to breathe.
In Karachi, no citizen can lay a single brick without the patronage of state institutions, than how such illegal structures can be built? The action should be taken against those who allowed the establishment and business of the shopping mall and club inside the premises of the amusement park illegally, instead of depriving the workers of their livelihood.
