Syed Muaz Ashrafi
Born and bred in the capital, I was rarely introduced to land theft – at least in the public domain. However, it was a very different narrative for the chaos of a city like Karachi. I distinctly remember when I was eight: in Malir, Karachi was my grandfather’s house, and the road joining it to the main route hosted enough room for two-way traffic. Some residence-cum-shops had opened, but they had yet to achieve pace. A few years later, general stores had erupted, covering roughly a quarter of that course; the homes adjacent didn’t hesitate to adopt the same zeal for development. Summer of 2017 – the road now scarcely in existence, ravaged with stall vendors and grocery stores, allowed the sole movement of bikers. Annu Bhai Ka Ghar stood, now entombed in the shadows of the newer structures, representing what the route once was. This is the tale of how two became one and even less. Every encroachment has a story.
It is both my civic and moral duty to oppose encroachments on any state or individual territory. However, as a supporter of equity and of reasoning, I believe it serves no justice to the debate till other perspectives are viewed objectively as well. Perhaps how it emerged and how demolition shouldn’t be the sole measure to tackle the issue is something that lacks thought. A volume of elements play part in such a dilemma. Some direct; others not so much.
We could talk about how there is a uniform omission of ethics throughout the financial classes of Pakistan. As someone narrated: a driver in Norway stands at a red light because he realizes it is inappropriate not to, a Lahori however, stops because he would be fined. And we observe that to be true. If we were to expect a person driving an Audi to be a model citizen and not, for example, litter on the road, we would indeed be disappointed. The distinction between legal and illegal, good and bad, is under-determined to the degree that the civilians require punishment to truly encompass legality. Individuals handling and running the encroached markets do not realize their earning happens to be illicit, till a demolition unit shows up.
We could further blame the sheer absence of family planning. Allow me to clarify. A man who can barely afford to feed himself suddenly becomes a father of four. Desperate for means to raise his children, this individual is willing to go to any measures necessary. It ceases to be a question of legitimacy. Expensive health care, expensive schooling and the tradition of overspending on family functions contribute their fair share to the cause.
However, lack of respect for the law plays the most significant part in the mess. And the defenders and implementers of the rule alone are to be charged for it. The general perspective of law has developed into the occupation that is chosen by a person incompetent of working on anything valuable. We witnessed recently how a group of lawyers violated the Deputy Commissioner Faisalabad’s office, shut gates to the court and retired to their more real nature of work – protesting. It is civilians like them who have seen this noble profession turn into a joke. Hardly anyone takes the law seriously, most don’t even recognize it. And for the minority that does, it’s a subject easily ignorable. This contributes to the nation remaining in a state of disorder, leading to troubles of every sort. Special mention to my lords who rule in the higher paying party’s favor.
Thus we recognize that encroachment is not as straightforward of an issue as it appears; it is a combination of everything wrong in our society surfacing as one significant complication. Although, it is further established that little of it is the individual’s fault – why is he being targeted then? Why is the state targeting the lowest people on the poverty line? Fair question.
To answer this fair question, we need to review who draws the most sum from these encroachments. An employee’s minimum wage is replaceable. A businessman’s setup is replaceable in a legal establishment. How? It’s a simple concept of supply and demand, the need will never scale down, therefore supply is invariably needed. What’s irreplaceable is the millions in Bhatta collected by the man in authority. What’s irreplaceable is the millions added to the individual’s bank balance providing Kunda electricity at his own tariffs. What’s irreplaceable is the earning of the law enforcement officer who extorted the poor population into serving his wallet. What’s irreplaceable is the percentage of the fraudulent estate dealer, who despite knowing the truth, dealt in illegal property, savoring the figures while they lasted. Thus, the above statement turns out to be only partially accurate. Certainly, people on the lowest of poverty lines are being hit, but, people affected even worse are the ones who had it more than good until now.
This dilemma is solvable. But the government alone can’t fix it. We, as loyal inhabitants need to be on the front lines of the conflict. We need to put an end to the survivalist mentality we have inadvertently adopted, and let humanity take its place. Ethical conduct requires teaching; so does regard for the law. Awareness about family planning and home economics should not be reduced to non-profits and low standard institutions, respectively. We need to end the indifference to the wrong that goes on around us, as this is the need of the hour. It’s time we evolve as a nation, and alter our reality.
