KARACHI - The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday rejected the plea to halt the operation against encroachments and directed the federal, provincial and city governments to devise a plan against the removal of encroachments.

The apex court, however ordered that residential units should not be targeted during the anti-encroachment drive when it took up the plea of Sindh government to review the earlier decision of removing the encroachments from the city.

At Karachi Registry of apex court, SC’s larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar remarked that SC’s orders were clear to remove the encroachments from footpaths and roads and directed the residential units should not be demolished during the drive.

Sindh Advocate General Salman Taalibuddin requested the SC to review the previous directive, arguing that extending the anti-encroachment drive to other parts of the metropolis has created the problems. At which Justice Saqib Nisar remarked that earlier orders only dealt with clearing footpaths and streets around the market.

He said that directives to remove encroachments from the footpaths and streets was clear and remarked that court wanted pedestrians to have rights while walking on the streets.

He stated that court is concerned about Karachi’s law and order situation however how it created the law & order situation in Karachi when he disclosed that Governor Sindh telephoned him about the law & order issue due to this drive.

The CJP said the court would not compromise on the removal of encroachments and made it clear that that court would not issue the orders to halt the operation against the encroachment. You should appreciate the removal of encroachment,” he responded to Advocate General Sindh’s remarks that encroachments are being demolished at a fast pace.

About the rehabilitation of those, whose shops have been demolished in anti-encroachment drive, CJP stated that making alternative arrangements for them is the job of the government. He said that we want to make Karachi better but vested interests are creating hurdles.

The Sindh AG said that previous orders were related to removal of encroachments around historical Empress Market, which had been cleared at which CJP said that court wanted to make removal of encroachments from the historical market as an example -We can’t now order that the area be re-encroached, CJP Nisar remarked.

He said that encroachments would emerge again if the drive was halted. He said that Mayor Karachi is doing the task against the encroachments by putting his political future at stake.

Attorney General told the court that Justice Gulzar Ahmed also issued orders against encroachments which were related to Kashmir Road. Mayor Karachi told the court the orders have been implemented after court orders to remove the encroachments on Kashmir Road.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehmam has said that the party leadership has decided to file a review petition in Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) against the ‘biased’ ongoing anti-encroachment operation in metropolis.

Hafiz Naeem has asked the lawyers’ forum of the party to prepare a petition related to the ongoing anti-encroachment operation by KMC which he termed biased. He said that the authorities concerned in the garb of apex court’s order are misusing their powers, adding that thousands of families have been deprived of their bread and butter by the brutal act of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and other authorities.

The JI leader was the view that his party would continue its struggle for the democratic, legal and constitutional rights of the common men. He further said that the officials of the KMC and Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) were involved in encroaching the public lands and properties. He demanded that strict legal action should also be taken against those who were involved in grabbing the amenity plots.

Hafiz Naeem said that the JI has raised the voice of affected shop-keepers at every platform and will continue to do so till the authorities would not provide them alternative business places. He added that review petition would be filed the Supreme Court soon.