The beauty of the Sunday crowd was that it reflected not only the 12 component political parties of the Sindh Action Committee (SAC), but also the civil society, all ethnic and linguistic communities of the province, and the displaced farming families. Some leaders of the SAC and other protesters were accompanied by their families. This mirrored the peaceful mood of the protesters.
The Bahria Town Karachi (BTK) administration and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) tried to aggravate the situation, shamefully calling the peaceful protest an attack on Mohajir nation. BTK is at a distance of some 40 kilometers from the capital city. Sindhis form over 40% of the population of BTK. The remaining population preponderantly consists of non-Urdu speaking communities. How was the protest an attack on the Mohajir nation or Karachi? To score political mileage out of a sensitive issue is no patriotism.
The background of BTK is very interesting and reflects the inhumanity and callousness of our powerful elite
Though the provincial police has registered scores of FIRs under the terrorism act on the behest of Bahria administration against the leaders of SAC including Syed Jalal Mahood, Qadir Magsi, Ayaz Palijo, Sanan Qureshi, Abdul Khaliq Junejo, and many others including workers of their political workers. Sindh’s Minister of Education Saeed Ghani, in a press statement has admitted that the fire at the Bahria was ignited by use of chemicals and the number of miscreants was limited to a few dozens. What the Honourable Minister further revealed was that the arsonists were holding pictures of Altaf Hussain, the Chief of the MQM-London. This dismantles the whole case of the provincial administration, Bahria and MQM-P against the SAC leaders and the en mass arrest of political workers.
The SAC leaders have been in the political arena since decades. They have been struggling peacefully for the provincial autonomy, the political and economic rights of their province within constitutional limits. Not one of them has ever been involved in anti-state or subversive activities. To strive for the rights of people is not terrorism. To resists the further ruthless expansion of Bahria at the expense of poor farming communities does not mean they are against development or modernization of Sindh. Do modernize Sindh but don’t colonize it turning Sindhis into a minority is their stance. Reports suggest Bahria plans to stretch to Kirthar national park on one side and to Thana Bola Khan to the other, with its last boundary touching Jamshoro.
Sindhis have no dispute with the existing Bahria Town which has been regularized by the Apex Court over an area of over 16000 acres. They are against its expansion and bulldozing of ancient villages and displacing indigenous farming communities. According to one estimate, the BTK has already unlawfully occupied over 35000 acres of private land. No doubt, all the ancient villages of Sindh have no proprietary documents, and are only entered in the revenue record of Sindh. The land occupied by the BTK over and above its regularized area needs to be geologically surveyed and the compensation paid to the poor villagers determined. Who will do this – NAB or Supreme Court? The collusion of the provincial administration with the BTK is no more a secret.
The provincial administration of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) seems to have embarked on a repressive and confrontational course. This is borne out by the excessive number of FIRs against the leaders and political workers. Every day, new cases are registered against political workers at the behest of Bahria administration. This repressive policy will push the nationalist leadership to the wall foreclosing chances of political dialogue and giving vent to violent reaction. This is not the political way of handling a legitimate rights movement. There is always danger of subversive elements hijacking movements where the leaders who can steer it on safe and peaceful course are arrested en mass. The provincial administration should not be blind to the abortive attempts of certain elements to convert the peaceful protest into an ethnic issue. This would have been suicidal for Sindh.
There should be a judicial enquiry to unearth the hidden hands behind the violence. The people have the right to know as to how a legitimate rights movement embedded in real deprivation inflicted by ruthless corporate interests in collusion with the power elite, took this violent turn. The provincial administration would be well advised not to use the events of Sunday as an excuse to crush the locals and nationalists on spurious terrorism charges in abetment of the expansion of this monster project.
The role of the so called national press right from the outset has been regrettably culpable. It seems as if the national print and electronic media has no concern with the issues of Sindh. The grave issues of the province get submerged in the noisy quarrels between the federal and provincial government. Federations cannot remain indifferent to the legitimate problems of their constituent units. Only the national media can separate wheat from chaff and filter facts from fiction and bring the correct position before the nation.
Barring Dawn, the so called media has been shamefully silent on the brutal way of occupying the lands of the poor farming communities by the BTK administration. Dawn had earlier published three features on the forcible acquisition of private lands with the connivance of the ruling party and the brutal displacement of ancestral owners by BTK. This time round also, only Sindhi electronic and print media extensively covered the violence at BTK. It seems the BTK administration has completely swayed the media.
The background of BTK is very interesting and reflects the inhumanity and callousness of our powerful elite. Without going into details how this monster housing project was conceived and who have shares in it, and how it emerged into a sprawling town, it is sufficient to say that the foundations of BTK are deeply anchored in inhumanity, deceit, fraud and forgery -all executed ruthlessly with the direct and indirect help at all levels of the provincial administration, stalwarts of the ruling party, private security apparatus and media.
(To be concluded)