The uniformed land mafia

About two hundred police stations and check posts in Sindh, including about fifty in Karachi, are standing on illegally occupied land, Pakistan Today reliably learnt. According to the details, 176 police stations in Sindh (out of which 49 police stations and checkposts are situated in Karachi while 73 in Sukkur region and 54 in the Hyderabad region) are situated on illegal land.
Sources told Pakistan Today that the declared illegal police stations are: PS Bilawal Colony, PS Samanabad, PS Joharabad, PS Wazirabad, PS FB Area, PS Gabol Town, PS Yousuf Plaza, PS Super Market, PS Rizvia, PS Taimooria, PS Shahrah-e-Noor Jahan, Tori Bangash check post Pakistan Bazar, PS Pak Colony, PS Baldia, PS Chakiwara, PS Shairshah, PS Maripur, PS KPT, PS Kharadar, PS City Court, PS Boat Basin, PS Mahmoodabad, PS Baloch Colony, Women police station, PS KESC, PS Bin Qasim, PS Steel Town, PS Shah Lateef Town, PS Sukkhun, PS Ibrahim Haydry, PS Khokharapar, PS Model Colony, PS Mobeena Town, PS Gulshan Iqbal, PS Sachal, Police check post Al Asif Square, PS PIB Colony, PS Bahadurabad, PS Sohrab Goth, PS Manghoper, PS Surjani Town, PS Gadap Town, PS Memon Goth, PS Gulshan Maymar, PS Alfalah and PS Malir. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, home department official told Pakistan Today that PS Shahrah-e-Noor Jahan was illegally built on the link road of Orangi Town and North Nazimabad while PS Super Market Liaquatabad had encroached upon the land of Gujjar Nala, as had PS PIB Colony also. PS Mobeena Town, PS Khokharapar, PS Azizabad, PS Taimoria and PS Buffer Zone had encroached upon Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) land.
“There were two amenity plots in the Journalist Colony in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. One was meant for establishing a club while the other for a health centre. The total area of the two plots was 3,000 sq. yards. However, the police blatantly occupied the plot meant for the health centre and established Mobeena Police Station there,” sources said.
It was also revealed by sources that two police stations – PS Sharafi Goth and PS Sachal – are situated on the plots of union councils while PS Tipu Sultan has been made on the land reserved for a public park. It was also learnt that after occupying land of Karachi Development Authority (KDA), seven police stations were built including PS Korangi Industrial Area, PS Zaman Town, PS Shah Lateef Town, PS Peerabad and PS Shahrah-e-Noor Jahan. PS Korangi Industrial Area is located on 2500 yards of KDA land reserved for industrial purposes. The police have occupied 35 residential and 6 commercial plots, each of 60 yards, in Korangi No. 1-1/2, Sector 48 D and built PS Zaman Town on 4000 square yards. PS Nabi Bakhsh was built on land belonging to the federal government while seven other police stations, including PS Alfalah, PS PS Model Colony, PS Surjani Town, were built in commercial buildings and on private land. PS Pak Colony is situated on the land of UC-6 since 1972 and its annual rent is Rs 21696 while another PS is located on 2911.62 square feet of the land of UC-8. The KMC has demanded the rent several times but the police department has not paid heed to these requests.
According to reports, 8,000 acres of amenity plots have been occupied in the metropolis between 1986-87 and 2006-07, including a large number of parks. At many places, these parks have been occupied by the police. Even pavements have not been spared by the police. For instance, one finds well constructed police posts on pavements in front of the PECHS graveyard and at main Tariq Road.
It has been further reported that the defunct City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has listed 7,956 alloted/un-alloted plots (residential, amenity, commercial, industrial and flat-site) that have been encroached upon in former KDA schemes in connivance with the police. The people whose property has been encroached upon by the police department have sent many applications to the chief minister and other concerned authorities but no action has been taken yet.