‘They fired at everyone’, says protester of Bahria Town Karachi development

THEY fired at everyone. As I was in the front row I got shot, said one of the protesters of Bahria Town Karachi development in Pakistan.

Since 2014, people are protesting against the luxury real estate protest. But the situation worsens in April when the bulldozer arrived to level the land next to Bahria Town, a luxury gated development.

On May 7 more than 12 people were injured when villagers rallied to protest the Bahria Town Karachi development.

Muhammad Anwar one of the protesters said to The Guardian, “We asked them to stop working,”. “They did not. We threw stones on the machinery to stop the work. We were asked to stop proceeding further [or] else they will fire on us. They fired at everyone. As I was in the front row, I got shot.”

With a bullet wound to his stomach and facial injuries, Anwar was lucky that his friends got him to hospital. Others, like Jan Sher Jukhio, were taken to the police station by Bahria Town guards. Jukhio says he was beaten with the butt of a gun.

“We gathered to save our lands,” says Jukhio. “We were beaten, dragged and in a state of injury we were given to police. I kept screaming to the police: ‘we should be taken to the hospital,’ but no one paid attention until more people came to the police station.”

On 30 April, PPP chair Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told Bahria Town and Sindh police to halt evictions in the villages. But bulldozers returned on 7 May and protests against the development saw 12 people, apart from Anwar and Jukhio, injured, The Guardian reported.

Sindh’s chief minister removed a senior police officer and an official from duty. Police reportedly arrested 13 Bahria Town security guards and staff for alleged rioting, kidnapping and injuring villagers.

Allaudin (who goes by one name), 32, was at home on the morning of 28 April when he was told bulldozers and police had arrived. The day before, guards working for Bahria Town told his family the company wanted to build a road through his land. Allaudin claims he was told that if he did not agree to give up the land, it would be acquired by force.

“They destroyed my agricultural land and vegetation, wells from where we supply water to our crops and also use for our household,” says Allaudin.

Bahria Town is one of Asia’s largest private property developers, with construction projects in cities across Pakistan. Its owner, Malik Riaz Hussain, has denied any involvement in the evictions. “Bahria Town was never part of any illegal activities nor [do] we intend to be in future,” he tweeted.