An eviction epidemic

The government is gearing up to demolish Rehmanabad, a more than 50-year-old working-class neighbourhood in Karachi inhabited by one of the most oppressed and vulnerable communities in the city.

Rehmanabad’s residents face not only economic challenges but also contend with social discrimination rooted in poverty, malnourishment, state oppression, and discrimination, creating a constant atmosphere of fear. This fear encompasses potential job loss, house eviction, and even the threat to their citizenship.

The disturbing trend of displacing the working-class populace is escalating rapidly. Despite being only five years old, Karachi Bachao Tehreek has already witnessed both successful and unsuccessful attempts to evict Martin, Pakistan, and Clayton Quarters, Landi Kotal, Empress Market, Karachi Circular Railway vicinity, Gujar, Orangi, Mehmoodabad Nullahs, Haji Leemo Goth, and pre-partition neighbourhoods due to the Malir Expressway. The post-partition colonies of Mujahid and Wahid have also been demolished due to a road project.

Furthermore, numerous small businesses, including stalls, shops, marriage halls, playgrounds, and other establishments, have also been targeted. Every state institution seems to provide cover for this class cleansing in the city. These structures which have provided the people of the city with a sense of community are being replaced with private housing societies, plazas, grand malls, large departmental stores, expansive marriage halls, and private grounds and clubs.

In the case of Rehmanabad, inhabited before 1975 – with documents existing that prove this fact – the neighbourhood is being uprooted under the assumption that it is on an ST Plot for a Park, according to a master plan formulated in 1978. There are suspicions that influential figures may acquire the land post-eviction, and construct a for-profit structure in the space. This also reflects another disturbing pattern in the city, also seen near Landi Kotal, where grounds are rented out instead of being made public.

The middle-class population perceives Karachi as being plagued by informality, attributing their suffering to this phenomenon. While this perception is not entirely unfounded, it is crucial to recognize how the state and ruling classes exploit informality for their petty class interests, as highlighted in my previous writings on ‘class and evictions’ and ‘land, and violence’ in which I dealt with the history of informality in Karachi.

Having said that, a deeper view of informality reveals its ties with capital interests. Projects that are touted as development initiatives also exhibit informality. The approval of the Lyari Expressway was aimed at redirecting heavy traffic in the area, yet its execution primarily serves to facilitate private vehicles. Similarly, the ongoing construction of the Malir Expressway on agricultural land and along the Malir River adds to the list of informal projects.

The landscape of Malir is further destroyed by numerous sizable builder projects mushrooming on agricultural and forest land there. Furthermore, large departmental stores have taken root in residential apartments and areas, posing a potential catastrophe for residents at any given moment.

This new trend of informal development raises questions not only bout the true nature of the projects undertaken in the name of the city’s progress but also the intentions of the state which is narrativizing the issue of informality to evict working-class neighbourhoods.

From slums to grand projects, different layers of powerful individuals are making profits from informality. The constitution places the responsibility of providing shelter on the state, yet there are few low-income housing societies built by the state. Instead, land is being handed over to builders for substantial kickbacks.

The state has never obligated industries to create housing for their workers, and has instead itself encouraged the settlement of people on initially unprofitable land – with various state officials and mafias eventually minting profits out of their miseries. Each time, people have not only paid fees for regularization and obtaining leases, utility connections and other amenities but also the heavy bribes associated with these processes.

The narrative of encroachment has been carefully crafted against the downtrodden who actually overpaid for the piece of land they are living on, as the land prices of the city started to increase exponentially over the years. Builders and bureaucratic construction companies seem to be hunting for such lands to develop large societies and projects, often funded by international financial institutions.

The automobile sector also invests in these banks as well as government projects, so there is no wonder why there is a growing trend of expressways, and signal-free roads and corridors. Even the majority of homes demolished near the Gujar, Orangi and Mehmoodabad nullahs were due to large roads which were not part of Karachi’s masterplan.

Karachi Bachao Tehreek also grapples with the question of informality while also fighting against the eviction of working-class neighbourhoods labelled as ‘encroachers’. It’s essential to clarify that the movement is not pro-informality but wants to deal with this informality through people’s engagement and for the betterment of the public.

It is the state and the profiteers who are economically, socially, and politically oppressing people through informality, making profits from both the creation and eviction of slums. The issue is the state’s colonial and bureaucratic approach to dealing with informality which aims to demonize the people, instead of facilitating them and which ends up increasing informality.

An effective approach to informality lies in empowering and organizing people, as exemplified by Shaheed Parveen Rehman. Her targeted efforts were based on the understanding that local communities possess the best insights for planning their settlements. The problem for the ruling classes is that this solution doesn’t align with profit-driven motives. Otherwise, if Mao could transform a mal-developed country into a global power with the slogan ‘from the masses to the masses’, why can’t we follow a similar path?

In the case of Rehmanabad, grievances arise from the fate of the colony being determined by influential individuals and state authorities without consulting the residents. It is time this colonial model of decision-making regarding people’s future was abandoned. True democracy requires listening to the people and making them stakeholders in the decision-making processes.

The writer is an educationist and former central organiser of the National Students Federation (NSF). He can be reached at: k.a.nayyer@gmail.com