Furious protesters attack Bahria Town, ransack shops, put on fire vehicles

KARACHI: Hundreds of protesters allegedly attacked Bahria Town Karachi on Sunday and set fire to its main gate as well as several shops and vehicles in the housing society, the police and residents said.

Footage appearing on social media showed the main gate of Bahria Town in flames while smoke was emitting from various other buildings in the elite housing project, which has been under scanner due to unconfirmed allegations of mass fraud and occupation of state and private land in and around the town.

Exclusive Videos:
Reportedly an angry/violent mob breaks into shops, sets motorbikes on fire in Bahria Town Karachi.

Local Administration and Sindh Police so far absent from the scene. pic.twitter.com/kRmtlCpoGZ

— Shiffa Z. Yousafzai (@Shiffa_ZY) June 6, 2021

A large number of protesters were staging a sit-in outside the housing society off the Super Highway. The Sindh Action Committee, an alliance of nationalist parties in the province, gave the call for the protest against the alleged hostile takeover of some goth lands by the Bahria Town management.

The committee comprises Sindhi nationalist leaders, including Qadir Magsi, Jalal Mehmood Shah, Ayaz Latif Palijo and others. The Sindh Indigenous Rights Alliance, which has led several such protests, supported the call too. They blamed the Sindh government for supporting the illegal eviction of poor peasants and villagers from their ancestral lands.

The protest was attended by residents of nearby villages, who asserted that they are being forced to give up their lands. They were protesting and chanting slogans against the purportedly “forceful eviction” from their ancestral lands in the vicinity.

According to eyewitnesses, a heavy contingent of police was on the scene to deal with any untoward situation, while the Bahria Town management sealed the entrance with containers. The protests turned violent when a number of protesters were arrested by the security forces, the witnesses claimed.

Later, an angry mob reportedly breached the barricaded gate and entered the housing society. The mob set fire to the vehicles and the main gate, and also ransacked the showrooms and banks.

A Suzuki car showroom and a fast-food joint were among the establishments torched by the protesters, according to an eyewitness.

R!ots Reported from Bahria town , Karachi, Pakistan.

Much Properties Destr0yed pic.twitter.com/R3AAj8adpb

— Megh Updates 🚨 (@MeghUpdates) June 6, 2021

The protesters looted at least two ATMs, said another resident, who wished to remain anonymous.

The police managed to disperse protesters after some time.

Following the arson attacks in Bahria Town, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board imposed an emergency at its Safoora hydrant.

KWSB MD Asadullah Khan said that they had dispatched several water tankers to the gated community on Super Highway.

“As soon as the protest turned violent, we withdrew all our members,” SIRA’s Hafeez Baloch told media. “We were not part of what happened there. Members of the Sindh Action Committee might be involved in it.”

The alliance has been striving to save the lands of the indigenous people for the last eight years.

Bahria Town officials often visit nearby goths and ask the residents to vacate them, according to Baloch. They have offered to financially compensate the residents but the villagers have refused to give up their ancestral lands.

The Bahria Town management is trying to take over lands in Noor Mohammad Gabol Goth, Usman Allahrakhiyo Goth, Hadi Bakhsh Gabol Goth and Abdullah Gabol Goth, alleged Baloch.

Apart from these goths, he claimed that the BTK management wishes to take over private lands owned by Kamal Jokhiyo, Faiz Gabol and Ameeruddin Gabol.

Sindh Action Committee’s Qadir Magsi said those who engaged in violence had nothing to do with the protesters.

“They were Bahria Town’s own people who deliberately drove the protest towards violence,” Magsi told media. “We were staging a peaceful sit-in and the Sindh Action Committee had nothing to do with the violence in Bahria Town.”

Magsi said that the police arrested around a dozen protesters. He demanded their immediate release.

The Sindh Indigenous Rights Alliance was formed in 2015 in reaction to the Bahria Town land acquisition, which they said had affected dehs in the Malir area.

The alliance was headed by Saleem Baloch who was supported by heavyweights such as the then state minister for communications MNA Hakeem Baloch, MPA Haji Shafi Jamot of Malir’s PS-129, historian Gul Hasan Kalmatti, Jam Abdul Kareem of Malir, well-known activist Yousaf Masti Khan and former nazim Khuda Dino Shah.

At the time, they had argued that the Supreme Court had in 2011 passed an order telling the government that it could not allot its land to private institutions. But the Bahria Town developments in Malir, especially Deh Langheji, came and were also in contravention to the Land Revenue Act 1967 and the Sindh Gothabad Act 1987, they had said.

SUPREME COURT RULING:

In May 2018, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Malir Development Authority illegally granted land to Bahria Town Karachi. The Sindh government had allotted the land to MDA for building a housing scheme.

The MDA, however, exchanged the land with Bahria Town, the court said. Bahria Town was even barred from selling any plot or apartment in the housing scheme.

In March 2019, the top court accepted Bahria Town’s offer to pay Rs460 billion to acquire 16,896 acres off Karachi’s Super Highway. It did not include Bahria Town’s Sports City project.