The attempt to encroach on land meant for a park by building a mosque on it, and using its land for a cemetery may have been defeated in the Kidney Hill Park in Karachi’s Tariq Road area by the Supreme Court’s ruling that a mosque or cemetery could not be built on illegally acquired land, but until the officials responsible for such violations are punished, or at least exposed, such practices will not stop. It is not simply a matter of looking away, for the mosque builders, who also wanted the whole area allocated for a park to be converted into a housing sheme. This is actually an old tactic, and has been used in other cities as well: to cover a piece of land in an odour of sanctity by having a mosque there, or a graveyard, or even a saint’s tomb, even if the latter two might be totally fake. Sometimes, the officials responsible for keeping such places clear, make money by looking the other way. However, bolder officials, probably for higher payment, will issue illegal certificates. This was the case in the Kidney Hill park land, for the mosque had permission, which had been illegally issued by the KMC, which did not have the authority to allot away land originally allocated for a park.
The illegal allocation had been done by the same Karachi East KMC Administrator as had tried to stop the demolition of Nasla Tower, which the Supreme Court had ordered because it had been built without legal authority. However, while the police is lead-footedly registering cases against the officials responsible for that, the latest case is upon them.
This latest case has shown that such encroachments are not possible without the connivance of officials, and until they are pursued, accountability will not be possible. Such cases are also tests for the federal and provincial governments, and their commitment to accountability. While the federal government uses the accountability mechanisms to hound political opponents, and the provincial tries to save itself from the federal, political will will be missing, and the courts will be the only way citizens can protect their open spaces.
