Daily Times

KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhter said he would resign if a single house is touched during the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in the city.

This the mayor said in a press conference on Friday. He said that he would not support any plans to demolish houses and apartments because he did not want to deprive people of shelter. “The government should arrest those builders and officials who constructed the houses and issued No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to them,” he demanded. He also warned to resign from his post in protest against demolition of residential structures.

It is pertinent here to mention that the Supreme Court (SC) in November had ordered an uninterrupted anti-encroachment operation in Karachi to transform it into a clean and green city.

Furthermore, the Karachi mayor called for exempting the shops made before houses from the anti-encroachment drive. “Anti-encroachment operation should apply on footpaths and roads etc, which I and residents of Karachi think should be done. However, houses cannot be demolished,” he said.

However, the mayor stressed at the same time that encroachment should be eradicated from the megapolis. He also said that public places such as parks and other buildings should be vacated. Waseem Akhtar clarified that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) had nothing to do with the court orders. “We will move court, if court orders and notices are issued to houses,” he said. He appealed to the top court to reconsider the matter on humanitarian grounds.

It is pertinent here to mention that the government of Sindh filed a review petition against the SC ruling of launching an anti-encroachment operation in Karachi. The petition said that several properties which were being demolished had official documents and pleaded to the court to issue a stay order till proper settlement of the issue. Afterwards, another petition was filed by the federal government.

Published in Daily Times, December 8^th 2018.