KARACHI: On Tuesday, an operation conducted against encroachments in Gulistan-e-Johar to vacate the land of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) miserably failed when the encroachers resorted to violence on the anti-encroachment team and the locals failed to provide the team with any protection.
The incident was an example of hundreds of botched anti-encroachment drives in Karachi, where the rule of law could not be maintained due to poor police security and bullying of lawbreakers prevailed because the law enforcers were had no backup.
This shows that anti-encroachment drives require better planning, more police force and cover of the rangers to disdain armed and unruly encroachers, who not only occupy the lands of the KCR, but also thousands of acres of other government lands in Karachi.
The Sindh government is trying to persuade the Chinese to include the revival of the KCR in the CPEC projects and in this regard, the chief minister of Sindh has already issued ordered to get the land which falls in the KCR route vacated. However, yesterday’s failed operation is also a setback for the sincere efforts of the Sindh government to get the vital project of the KCR revived.
Moreover, the government needs to request the rangers to provide security cover to the anti-encroachment teams working in Karachi, particularly, the teams that are assigned to get vacated the KCR’s encroached lands. It is clear that the encroachers would not voluntarily go away but the government has to take strict measures to uphold the rule of law and the writ of government.
Early revival of the KCR is necessary for improving the commuting facilities in this mega city, as well as to lessen crippling traffic jams that waste precious fuel and time of citizens. However, without removal of encroachments along the KCR track, this project could never be revived and the sitting government fully knows it, but still the bureaucracy seems to be shying away from taking decisive and well-planned actions.