Me and a comrade were distributing pamphlets for a survey by Karachi Bachao Tehreek when we saw a protest across the street. Turned out it was by the residents of Mujahid Colony where demolitions had just begun that week.
When I ran up to take pictures and document the protest, these kids started clowning me and running away with their placards 🥲
I’m at Gujjar Nala in Liaqatabad. This entire area is treacherous to walk. There are no barriers along the entire length of the nala. I have to take care not slip myself.
Kids live here. This is their backyard. People walk here. Injuries and deaths are waiting to happen.
The nala is now right at the doorstep of people’s homes. It has tripled in size since I’ve last been here. The road that the govt has planned is yet to be built.
This will require a fresh wave of demolitions. Thousands of homes which are not accounted for in the compensation process.
While we were doing door-to-door surveys, I asked some residents about these giant pipes that were snaking through the narrow walking path alongside the nala. The residents told me that they were installed by armed forces (or their contractors) to siphon water from the water hydrants in the nullah, allegedly to sell for profit.
Attending a public hearing for the Environmental Impact Assessment of the Karachi Circular Railway. The KCR project is implicated in large-scale demolitions and forced displacement, primarily impacting informal settlements bordering the railway tracks.
For context, read more about the stories of KCR affectees here.
You can read the (inaccessibly long) EIA report below:
To contextualize the report, you can pair it with this article.
Today I went with some friends to the Gujjar Nala for a door-to-door survey activity. Our goal was to interview resident and document the legal status and condition of the homes before their imminent demolition.
The operation is being carried out in response to catastrophic flooding that took place in August 2020. The government believes the flooding was caused by informal settlements “encroaching” on Karachi’s storm water drains.
In the vicinity of Gujjar Nala, loudspeaker announcements inform residents to vacate homes built on the drain by 7:00 am tomorrow morning as the said construction will thereafter be razed to clear the drain path.
This is the purest, most distilled form of climate injustice I’ve ever seen.
