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During last 6 months (Jan 2001 - June 2001) more than 1850 houses were bulldozed in six different settlements by the government agencies including KMC, KDA. Over 3,700 families (comprising more than 15,000 people) were displaced in one case. These bulldozing operations took place in a) 700 housing units Rati Lines railway colony on 8 - 10 January 2001, b) 50 houses in Liaquatabad on 14th January 2001, c) 200 huts in Block E North Nazimabad on 8th May, d) over 400 housing units in Masoom Shah railway colony near Kala Pul on 10th May 2001, e) 200 housing units in Ghazi Goth Gulistan Johar on 26th May 2001, f) 300 housing in Bilal colony sector 7A and Mateen Shah colony sector 7B in North Karachi on 7th and 8th June 2001. Reasons of these recent evictions were encroachment removal campaign and development project like road extension and Nala Development; The surveys show that in Karachi evictions take place in most brutal way, the government agencies displace poor families in over nights without any notices, compensations and alternatives. After evictions the poor families would not only loose their houses but also livelihoods, education of their children and neighborhood environment built over the years. According to URC investigations most of these bulldozing operations in past were carried out to grab land for the construction of high-rise buildings or use for commercial purposes. The builders and developers use government agencies for this purpose. No prior notices are issued to the affected families. Detailed case studies of the eviction cases are being prepared by URC. According to estimation population of 4.5 million people is living in katchi abadis (informal settlements) in Karachi. A further 1.0 million have taken refuge in shelters located in “danger zones” such as along riverbeds, railway lines, coastal belt, under high tension wires etc.
Under threat settlements Besides these over 50,000 housing units under threat a) 26,000 Housing units in all railway colonies in Karachi and 25,000 Housing units in Lyari Nadi beds As Pakistan Railways is in serious financial trouble, the railway minister has taken a notion to cover the enormous deficit by reclaiming this occupied land and selling it off for commercial development. In the past six months 1,100 houses in two large railway settlements were demolished. None of them were in the safety zone. There was no resettlement plan or compensation. There have also been big demolitions of railway settlements in Hyderabad and Rawalpindi, and the government has plans to bulldoze another 20,000 houses in Karachi alone. Karachi’s railways communities have their own community network and are part of the All Pakistan Federation of Katchi Abadis. As communities struggle fiercely to resist the demolition squads and to negotiate with authorities in Karachi and Islamabad, they are finding public sentiment is not on their side. A recent letter-writing campaign organized by the URC flooded the PR and government offices with protests from housing rights groups around the world, and managed to elicit a pledge from the government to carry out no more evictions (see appendix) until a resettlement plan has been decided “for settlements along railway lines, river belts and other dangerous zones.“ Meanwhile, the URC is working with the railway community network to undertake a detailed survey of families living on railway land. As an organization working for Housing Rights in Karachi URC is not only documenting eviction trends in Karachi and lobbies for the housing rights of the urban poor but also provide following support to these communities:
(See table below for details for list of evictions in Karachi)
List 1: Details of the some recent Evictions cases
Total No. of Houses bulldozed Jan 97 - June 2001 4,470 Units Cumulative cases from 1992 -to 96 12,000 Units Total No. of Houses bulldozed since 1992 16,470 Units (Note: These are only the reported cases. There may be many others, which remain unreported)
URC has also been documenting incidents of fire in Katchi Abadis (informal settlements) since 1995. In the last 6 months (Jan 2001 - June 2001) 30 huts were gutted. This incident was occured in Dawood Goth Saeedabad on 16 March 2001. Since January ’97, a total number of 1,139 huts were gutted in different settlements. These incidents have rendered more than 9,185 people homeless. six minor children and a 45 year old man were also burnt alive in these incidents. (See list in appendix # 2). Two main causes are identified for these incidents; one natural and the other planned. The planned incidents are those, in which the land mafia is involved. To draw attention towards fire incidents in Karachi, URC circulates reports containing facts and figures on the issue to the press, NGOs and government agencies. URC documents the fire incidents of Katachi Abadis and try to establish an understanding on the reasons of these incidents. See list below for details;
List 2: Huts gutted in Karachi (some recent cases):
Total No. of the huts gutted Jan ’97 - June 2001 1,139 huts Cumulative cases from November 95 - December 96 2,486 huts Total No. of the huts gutted since November 95 3,625 huts
Punjab, Pakistan
By Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy
(D-7, 22/05/03)
Army holds farmers responsible: 'Trouble' at Okara military farms
By Baqir Sajjad Syed
(D-2, 01/06/03)
Law enforcing agencies are adamant to implement the rental policy, while tenants seem unswerving in securing proprietary rights of these controversial lands. ' Malki ya maut' has become the catchword of the tenants now By Amjad Bhatti
Three-year-long resistance by tenants in Okara took a new twist recently with the active participation of various political parties, legal community and, of course, with a daring articulation of the issue in question by national and international media. On the other hand, the principal parties involved in the conflict are strategising their fight and counter-fight in the light of daily happenings.
Okara Military Farm covers 17,013 acres of land, which was transferred by the Government of Punjab to the Ministry of Defense on lease for 20 years on 9-8-1913 against an annual rent of Rs15,000. The land is still under military possession. Earlier the tenants were cultivating this land on batai system in which the interests of tenants are ensured through Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887.
Through batai system tenant and landlord operates on an equal share basis. Contrarily, if a tenant cultivates land under any contract system, he can be ejected from land at any time at the will of the landlord.
In June 2000 military authorities announced a shift in policy and replaced the earlier batai system with thaika (land lease and cash rent system), which was considered to be a disempowering drive against the tenants.
"General Qamaruz Zaman Chatha introduced Thaika system and he asked tenants to pay the rent or leave the land," said Khadim Hussain a resident of Chak 5/L. Since then tenants have been resisting this policy. Seven tenants have been reportedly killed, dozens injured and hundreds, including women and children, have been jailed.
The recent murder (on 11th May) of an elderly Mohammad Amir, known as Amir Baba of Chak 5/L of Okara Military Farm, has escalated the conflict. State authorities, in response, have tightened their grip on tenants by employing various tactics. The tenants hold Rangers responsible for the killing of Mohammad Amir, while Rangers say it was a result of cross-firing between Machi and Sindhi families. Local police station has, however, registered a case under Section 302 against tenant leaders.
The official version on these killings seems a bit shaky. No one in the area is ready to subscribe to the story narrated by farm administration. The versions expressed by various law enforcing agencies varies, and at times they appear to be self-defeating and contradictory.
Farm authorities have engineered novel methods to demoralise resisting tenants. These include: setting-up pickets all around; cutting the power and food supply to the villages; picking up school-going children of the tenants and keeping them in custody to pressurise their parents; arresting relatives of tenants living in other cities; curtailing the village-to-village mobility of tenants; depriving the injured and ailing of medical treatment and so on.
Meanwhile, as observed by this scribe during the last two visits to the area, local politicians are reluctant to support tenants since they have their stakes in the power structure, which is dominated by the military establishment. The local establishment is trying to use local political elite and media in favour of their own interests; thus the point of view of tenants largely remains unsupported and unarticulated by local power centres and opinion leaders.
A petition in the Lahore High Court was disposed of by directing tenants to contact local police station to get their version recorded in an already registered FIR against them. This disappointed the tenants who moved out to mobilise political parties--mainly opposition parties--and bar associations to secure a support base for their movement. The ARD remained positive to their demands and some press statements were issued in favour of tenants' struggle last week.
The Punjab Bar Council and Lahore High Court Bar Association, apart from some local bars, have already tabled requisitions in favour of tenants' struggle. Against this backdrop the tenants' movement seems to have moved towards a new direction with the possibility of forming a broader support base for itself. This seems to have disturbed the authorities.
A recent visit to OMF by a diverse delegation comprised of lawyers, media, peoples' rights activists and members of provincial assembly. It was observed that the local authorities had a vigilant security system to stop outsiders' entry to the centres of struggle. Even the local MPA was not allowed to cross the checkpost outside Chack 4-5/L.
The tone of the OMF authorities has changed. Only two weeks ago in-charge of the OMF was telling the visitors, in a persuasive tone, that there was no problem on the farm. That everything had been settled between tenants and the farm administration and about Rs30m had been remitted by the tenants against the account of thaika. He indicated that there were only three troubled villages, which were resisting the change, because the leadership of Anjuman Muzareen Punjab (AMP) was based in these villages.
The external supporters of tenants' movement are labeled as 'anti-state' miscreants by the farm administration and law enforcing agencies. In a recent example, Sarwar Mujahid a local correspondent of an Urdu daily was arrested under terrorist act. Locals say that he was arrested on the orders of the head of Rangers on filing a story of tenants' sit-in, in which he exposed farm administration.
"I am being victimised for reporting the truth," Sarwar told this scribe in Okara Sadar Police Station. Tenants, however, ask that if official claim that 90% tenants have agreed to the rental policy is true, then why the whole area is being kept under siege?
The law enforcing agencies are adamant to implement the rental policy, while tenants seem unswerving in securing proprietary rights of these controversial lands. 'Malki ya maut' (ownership or death) has become the catchword of tenants now. This slogan is not to be looked at as a mere radical rhetoric; instead, it has its deep-seated connection with psycho-social behavioural composition emanating out of utter insecurity and trauma of imminent displacement feared by the tenants in case they surrender to official direction of agreeing to the rental system. They will be evicted from land they are tiling now, they fear. |