Police and Rangers fired tear gas and initiated baton-charge on residents and builders staging protest outside Karachi’s Nasla Tower which is a 15-storey residential building located at the intersection of Shahrah-i-Faisal and Shahrah-i-Quaideen, against the demolition orders by the Supreme Court.
It is pertinent to note that the SC has given directive to the authorities to demolish the building for land encroachment meant for a service road.
The Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (Abad) had organised the protest, earlier today.
Earlier, Abad Chairman Mohsin Sheikhani requested the government to inform the association who the “final authority” was for seeking building approvals.
He went on to state that the association would be halting all projects in Karachi. He had claimed that despite getting approvals from government agencies, the documents stood “null and void”.
On the other hand, Karachi police has denied the allegations that officials resorted to violence against any citizen and stated that law enforcement officials were deployed to protect people’s lives and property.
Spokesperson of Karachi police went on to state that officials only tried to stop people from blocking the road,
As per a statement by SSP (South), officials were trying to restore peace and stated that tear gas shells were being used in an effort to disperse the crowd of protesters.
SSP (East) Qamar Raza Jiskani stated that the protestors allegedly tried to take the law into their own hands and attempted to block Shahrah-i-Faisal near Nursery roundabout.
“The police and paramilitary force took action and dispersed the crowd,” the senior officer stated.
It is pertinent to note that traffic remained suspended on the road that links the city with the airport and the national highway.
Contrary to the statement of the police, the Abad chairman claimed that at least 20 to 25 people were injured in the incident.
He added that the people were staging a peaceful protest when the whole “drama” started.
“They baton-charged us, hit people and used tear gas,” Sheikhani said, adding that the business community staging the protest had wanted to communicate its point of view through a peaceful demonstration.
When asked about any talks or assurance by the government, he replied that no talks had been held and neither had they received any kind of assurance. “[Instead] they are hitting people […] I don’t know what they want.”
He called for the government to take initiative and devise a policy regarding the matter and “regularise things”.
NASLA TOWER CASE
In a previous judgement on the legality of the ownership of the land, the court had said: “It is claimed that around 1957, the main road that was proposed to be 280 feet wide was realigned and as a result, its width was reduced to 240 feet and the excess 40 feet was allotted to SMCHS through a letter by the chief commissioner in December 1957.”
It further noted the additional area was claimed to have been allotted by SMCHS to one Mustafai Begum and the area of the plot was allegedly increased from 780 square yards to 1,044 square yards and the additional area was neither incorporated in the original/amended lease nor in any subsequent lease deed.
The present owner ultimately acquired it by way of a conveyance deed executed in 2015 and initially, the plot in question was meant for residential purposes, but in 2004 the then city government through a resolution allowed conversion of all residential plots on Sharea Faisal for commercial use and in 2007 the plot was converted from residential to commercial use, it added.
The owners of the tower claimed that the additional area was allotted by SMCHS through a resolution in 2010 and the same came to be included in the total area of the plot while the mukhtiarkar in his report said that SMCHS had illegally increased the size of the plot by allotting the land reserved for the service road, the order said.
