Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2017

Land grabbing with impunity

IT is ironic that while law-enforcement agencies pursue militants, another category of
criminals has been for years operating with total impunity in the country. A report in this
paper yesterday revealed that land grabbers in Sindh have been convicted in only five cases
since 2010 a fact all the more shocking because an anti-encroachment court and a
special force in Karachi were established that year for conducting speedy trials of land
grabbers and retrieving public property by demolishing illegal structures. So far, a mere 10
cases of land encroachment in Karachi have been registered this year: judging by the
record, one can well imagine what the outcome is likely to be.
However, Pakistans largest city is not the only one where land grabbing is taking place.
With the rise of the middle class and the subsequent boom in the requirement for
residential accommodation especially that ultimate symbol of upward social mobility,
the gated community construction has become a bigger business than ever before in
this country. In the process, the regulation of land has fallen victim to avaricious vested
interests. Relevant authorities rather than implementing zoning laws, safeguarding
government land and green spaces, and ensuring that areas for low-cost housing are
utilised for that purpose are complicit in the wholesale plunder of land. They place their
services at the disposal of powerful segments of the ruling elite, both civilian and
otherwise, and corrupt development authorities to construct lavish housing complexes and
expand existing neighbourhoods. The police, of course, are a vital cog in this thriving
racket, using force, or the threat of force, to compel people into giving up their land.
The human cost of such criminal wrongdoing is enormous. When master plans are
violated, the urban poor are squeezed to the fringes of cities and farmers in rural areas are
forced off their land and deprived of their livelihood. Moreover, because the government
has paid no heed to its duty to provide affordable housing to a growing population, the
vacuum has been filled by another breed of land grabber in the informal sector again in
collusion with formal authorities who has made a profitable business of supplying land
for lower-income housing. Mushrooming on the outskirts of urban centres, these localities
are magnets for those involved in drug smuggling, gunrunning etc. Then there is the
environmental cost exacted by encroaching on protected land and natural drainage
channels. Huge tracts of forest land outside Rawalpindi have been devoured by land
grabbers while the once spectacular natural setting of Bani Gala in Islamabad has been
similarly encroached on. Illegal construction on storm water drains prevents rainwater
from exiting populated areas, resulting in urban flooding like that experienced in Karachi
recently. Until the laws against land grabbing are strictly applied to whoever engages in it,
we are allowing rapacious elements to compromise our future.
Hazara killings
IN the violence against civilians in the country, the repeated targeting of Hazaras in
Balochistan stands out as a particularly grim failure of the state. On Sunday, yet another
family of the Shia community was targeted in Kuchlak as they were travelling to Quetta.
Four individuals, including a child, were killed in the attack. What followed is also
distressingly predictable: the assailants rode off on a motorcycle unimpeded; security
forces arrived at the scene after the gunmen had fled; and hasty search operations in the
immediate aftermath of the killing failed to lead to the attackers. Meanwhile, the Hazara
people have been left to mourn more deaths in a seemingly never-ending descent into fear
and terror. To be sure, the vast physical expanse of Balochistan and the sparse population
of the province mean that protecting all the people all the time would challenge even the
best-resourced, most-committed security forces in the world. But there have been several
such incidents in Balochistan; they are clearly linked to a flawed security policy in the
region and the failure of the political leadership. The Hazaras, as indeed the general
population in Balochistan, will not be safe until the state changes its approach to security
in the region.
Yet, delay in long-term changes should not stand in the way of short-term improvements
where possible. The enemies of the Hazara people are a relatively narrow band of militants
on the militancy spectrum. Among the groups likely to attack the Hazaras, active militants
are estimated to be relatively small. So while there is no possibility of physically protecting
every Hazara, the state can use its significant intelligence and security apparatuses to
identify and progressively shut down groups targeting the community. Further, while the
state has pointed repeatedly at external sponsors of militancy being responsible for
terrorism in Balochistan, the networks used are invariably local. So is preventing violence
against Hazaras not a priority for the state, or are lessons that ought to be learned not
being learned because there is little accountability? Finally, the Balochistan government,
weak and sidelined as it may be in security matters, needs to take a stand. When it comes
to the Hazaras, there has long been a suspicion that the political class is indifferent to their
plight. The provincial government needs to demonstrate empathy and concern for all its
people.
Dangerous waters
IT is a tragedy that has sadly become so ubiquitous that at least in the public
consciousness, it barely registers anymore, the numbers simply adding up on the grim
stats sheet. The past one month has been particularly bad, with upwards of 30 people
drowning in the stormy waters off Karachis beaches. The latest incident occurred on
Saturday evening on Sandspit beach, when a total of 12 people died after going into the
deep while attempting to save a child who had been sucked into a whirlpool. According to
the police, the picnickers had repeatedly been asked by police and lifeguards to not swim
so far. And the city mayor, Waseem Akhtar, said that at least 30 lifeguards jumped in to go
to the swimmers rescue, but were unsuccessful in their attempts. He added that Section
144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, under which swimming in the sea in this rough
monsoon season is banned, was already in place but the administration faced difficulties in
implementing it.
The situation is indicative of how law enforcers and even rescue workers often find
themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place where issues of public safety are
concerned. It is their job to make sure that citizens dont put themselves or others in
danger. But when they resort to the high-handed measures that often become necessary
given the peoples propensity to indulge in risky pursuits, the guardians expose themselves
to criticism and admonishment. Recent experience has shown that, realistically, the only
way to prevent people from entering the water during the dangerous season is to prevent
large numbers from getting to the beaches in the first place. When this has been done,
however, there has been justified resentment, for healthy recreational opportunities are
also a right. The only answer lies in a cross-media, mass-scale public awareness campaign
so that the hive mind is flooded with the knowledge of just how dangerous the sea can be.
Citizens must be educated on how to protect themselves too.