A protest rally was held by the Sindh United Party (SUP) against the allocation of 6,000 acres of land to the Defense Housing Authority (DHA) located in Hawke’s Bay in the town of Maripur in Kemari District of Karachi Division.
The protest rally was led by party president Syed Zain Shah and political and social activists from across Sindh participated in it.
The participants of the protest rally also protested on vehicles including motorcycles at the site where the land is being given to DHA.
While addressing the rally, party president Syed Zain Shah said that DHA started housing scheme in Karachi with 72 acres of land in 1980 but currently it has 20 thousand acres of land.
Earlier, SUP had told during a press conference at Karachi Press Club that on December 18, 2023, the administrator Defense Housing Authority (DHA) Brigadier Rana Shahzad Shafi Nagaran wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Sindh in which he stated That the primary task of his organization is to provide relief to the families of the martyrs and the personnel of the armed forces and now DHA should be allotted 5 to 6 thousand acres of land in the vicinity of Hawke’s Bay for further expansion of its scheme.
The president of the party, Zain Shah, had said that then the caretaker government, by exceeding its constitutional authority, started paperwork on this letter, extra-legally, extra-authoritatively and extra-judgment, although it should have been done by the elected government. But on the contrary * Caretaker Chief Minister Sindh Justice Maqbool Baqir notes on January 30, 2024 to the Senior Member Board of Revenue Land Utilization to take action on it.
According to him, the caretaker chief minister issued a letter on April 8, 2024 to the Land Utilization Department, Deputy Commissioner Kemari to send a survey report along with a map within 7 days of the land that is located on the seashore.
He said that the map that came out after that also makes it clear that if the Sindh government allotted this land to DHA, it would be Deh Allah Banu, Deh Mendiari of District Kemari Town Maripur. Thousands of residents of the ancient Bhand, Kalamati, Khaskheli, Brohi communities of more than 45 Goths based in Deh Chatara will be evicted from their ancestral lands whose livelihood is linked to the sea.
He said that it is clear that the land is being taken away from the poor people and given to the nobles in the name of martyrs, and the government that calls itself the people’s government is also involved in this anti-people plan, i.e. the fake People’s Party. Elected Govt.
Syed Zain Shah had further said that almost two-thirds of Karachi’s land is under the control of the Cantonment, DHA has occupied Karachi’s land by making various justifications. DHA started its housing scheme in Karachi in the 1980s with only 76.2 acres of land, but over time it has become the largest and most prominent residential and commercial scheme.
He said that according to the information provided on the authority’s website, Pakistan Defense Officers Housing Authority currently owns an area of 8,797 acres. DHA City covers an area of 11,640 acres, meaning DHA now owns 20,000 acres of land.
Syed Zain Shah said that *We understand that since 2008, the Sindh government has been giving ‘rewards’ to the People’s Party in exchange for providing such ‘services’. In this way, not two but ten victims are being killed with one arrow, but the worst loss is being caused to the poor people as well as the country and the army.