Karachi: The Land Issue By Arif Hasan Mansoor Raza Urban Research and Development Cell, NED University, Karachi (Initial Draft: Not to be quoted) Karachi, 27 June 2012 Supported by the International Institute for Environment and Development, UK Edited by Arif Hasan 1 Preface (To be added later) 2 Acknowledgements This study has been supported by the International Institute for Environment and Development, UK and is the result of a collaboration between Architect Arif Hasan and the Urban Research and Development Cell (URDC) at the NED University, Karachi. It has been conceived, designed and edited by Arif Hasan and its authors are Arif Hasan, Mansoor Raza and from the URDC’s side, Prof. Dr. Noman Ahmed, Associate Prof. Asiya Sadiq and Assistant Prof. Saeed Ud Din Ahmed. A number of persons, in addition to the authors (whose brief CVs are given as an Appendix), have contributed to the study. Fatima Zaidi, Fawad Hasan and Humayoon Waqas have assisted Mansoor Raza in his work on surveys and news clipping analysis. Architect Nurjehan Mawaz Khan has reviewed land related U-Tubes and movies and edited the interviews and analysis that form the basis for parts of Section 4. From the URDC side, research assistants Madiha Salam and Samia Shahid have carried out the interviews of representatives of financial institutions that support the conclusions in Sections 2.3, 2.4 and 3 and with Architect Rahat Arsalan they have also supported Associate Prof. Asiya Sadiq and Assistant Prof. Saeed Ud Din Ahmed in carrying out NGO/CBO interviews and in analysing the socio-economic surveys that form the basis for Section 3. In addition, Mohammad Younus Khan, Mirza Kamran Baig, Azeem Ahmed Khan and Faheem Rafiq were responsible for carrying out these surveys and in helping to prepare the questionnaires. Arif Hasan’s secretary, Israr Ahmad Rana and Nurjehan Mawaz Khan have helped Arif Hasan in putting this study together. 3 Contents Preface (to be added) Acknowledgements 1. The Karachi Context 2. Land 2.1 Who Owns Land, Where and How Much 2.2 Review of Laws, Statutes and Regulations Pertinent to Land Management in Karachi 2.2.1 The Importance of Land 2.2.2 Disposal of Urban Land 2.2.3 Cantonment Laws 2.2.4 Railway Laws 2.2.5 Katchi Abadi Laws 2.2.6 Societies Act 2.2.7 Land Revenue Laws 2.2.8 Land Acquisition Laws 2.2.9 Building Control and Town Planning Regulations 2.2.10 Environmental Laws 2.2.11 Building Control Laws 2.3 Land and Urban Master Plans: A Review 2.4 The Provincial Government and CDGK Views on the KSDP-2020 2.4.1 The Views of the Provincial Government 2.4.2 The Views of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) 3. Credit for Purchase of Land and Housing 3.1 Housing Finance Situation: A Review 3.2 Conclusions 4. The Conflict Over Land-1: Actors, Factors and Their Relationships (from Secondary Sources) 4.1 Introduction 4.2 What the Videos Tell Us 4.3 What the Feature Films Tell Us 4.4 What the Case Studies Tell Us 4.5 Land Conversion Along Karachi’s Coastline 4.6 A Synopsis of What the Press Clippings Tell Us 4.7 Conclusions 5. The Conflict Over Land–2: Actors, Factors and Their Relationships (from Interviews and Surveys) 5.1 Introduction 5.2 What the Interviews Tell Us 5.3 What the Analysis of the Questionnaires Tells Us 5.4 Conclusions 4 6. Support to Poor Communities and Affordability and Location Issues 6.1 Support Role of NGOs and CBOs to Poor Communities 6.2 Affordability and Location Issues 6.3 Conclusions 7. Towards A More Equitable Land Policy Appendices: 1. Maps 2. List of Goths in Various Areas of Karachi 3. A synopsis of Karachi Development Plans 4. Synopsis of Interviews of Institutions that Fund Housing 5. Review of Land Related U-Tubes / Videos 6. Review of Land Related Movies 7. Case Studies on Land Conversions 8. The Gentrification of Karachi’s Coastline 9. Summary of 5,602 News Clippings 10. List of Murdered Estate Agents (2010 and 2011) 11. Interviews of Persons Involved in Real Estate Business and Transaction 12. Analysis of 125 Questionnaires Related to House Building and Property Purchase 13. NGO/CBO Workshop Methodology and Profiles 14. Socio-economic Survey of Poor Settlements, Informal Businesses and Hawkers 15. Photographs: 15.1 Photographs of Areas Surveyed for Appendix 12 15.2 Photographs of Areas Surveyed for Appendix 14 Abbreviations and Local Terms Bibliography List of Maps 5 Abbreviations: ABAD Association of Builders and Developers ACHS Al-Riaz Cooperative Housing Society AKPBS,P Aga Khan Programme for Basic Services, Pakistan BoR Board of Revenue CBO Community Based Organisation CDGK City District Government Karachi DHA Defence Housing Authority EDO Executive Development Officer EIA Environment Impact Assessment EPA Environmental Protection Agency FAR Floor Area Ratio GoS Government of Sindh HBFCL House Building and Finance Corporation Limited IAP Institute of Architects IFC International Finance Corporation KBCA Karachi Building Control Authority KCHSU Karachi Cooperative Housing Society Union KCR Karachi Circular Railways KDA Karachi Development Authority KIT Karachi Improvement Trust KMC Karachi Municipal Corporation KPT Karachi Port Trust KSDP Karachi Strategic Development Plan KWSB Karachi Water and Sewerage Board LDA Lyari Development Authority LERP Lyari Expressway Rehabilitation Project MDA Malir Development Authority ML&C Military Lands & Cantonments Groups MoU Memorandum of Understanding MPECD Master Plan and Environmental Control Department MPGO Master Plan Group of Offices MRV Merz Randal Vetten MQM Muttahida Quomi Movement MoW Ministry of Works NAB National Accountability Bureau OCHS Oversees Cooperative Housing Society OPP Orangi Pilot Project PCATP Pakistan Council for Architects and Town Planners PDOCHS Pakistan Defence Officers’ Cooperative Housing Society PECHS Pakistan Employees Cooperative Housing Society PICIC Pakistan Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation PPP Pakistan Peoples’ Party PQA Port Qasim Authority REIT Real Estate Investment Trust RTI Research and Training Institute SBCA Sindh Building Control Authority SITE Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate SKAA Sind Katchi Abadi Authority 6 SLGO Sindh Local Government Ordinance SMCHS Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society Local Terms: abi watered by lift from tanks bachao save baghicha farm banjar qadim land which has remained unsown for more than eight successive harvests banjer jadid land which has remained unsown for eight successive harvests barani dependent on rainfall bhaichara decisions based through brotherhood bhatta bribe extracted through coercion bisi chahi watered from wells deeni religious dharti land ghair mumkin not possible goths villages gutter sewage imambargah A  gathering  place  of  the  Shia  Muslim  sect katchi abadis informal settlements khamosh silent jheels lakes and large ponds madarassahs schools mahigeer fishermen nahri irrigated by canals by flow or lift nazims mayors nullahs natural drains patwari lower level revenue officer in-charge of taxation pattidari pugri sahil beach sailaba land in the flood plains shamilat community land tahreek movement thalla the local building materials manufacturing yard provider wala local building materials provider zamindari system of agricultural free-hold property holdings 7 List of Maps 1. The Urbanized Area of Karachi 2. Location of Cooperative Societies 3. Location of Defence Housing Authority 4. Location of Industrial Areas 5. Location of LDA/MDA 6. Location of Katchi Abadis 7. Location of Cantonments 8. Location of KDA Scheme – 33 9. Locations Where Surveys For Appendix 12 Were Carried Out (Folder containing location map) 10. Location Where Surveys For Appendix 14 Were Carried Out (Folder containing location map) 8 1. THE KARACHI CONTEXT Karachi is a mega city with a population of about 18 million. Literatures and case studies tell us that its problems are similar to those of other mega cities in the South.1 These problems include illegal land conversions, use of funds acquired through coercion and contraband trafficking for real estate development, turf wars between rival real estate dealers and promoters, evictions, a large demand supply gap in housing, and a strong anti-poor bias in planning and policy making. Yet, Karachi is different because three important aspects of the city interact with each other in a region currently in conflict. The first aspect is related to Karachi’s strategic location in the regional conflict related to the Afghan war. The second is its immense economic power in the context of Pakistan in general and of Sindh province, of which it is the capital, in particular. And third, that its migrant population far out numbers its native Sindhi and Balochi speakers. To understand Karachi’s land and governance related issues, an understanding of these three aspects of the city, is necessary. In the late 18thand early 19th century, the Russian Czarist Empire conquered Central Asia with the aim of reaching the warm water of the Arabian Sea so as to contain the expansion of British Imperial power in India and the Middle East. The Russian goal was the capture of the natural harbour of Karachi. As a reaction, the British annexed Sindh in 1843 and occupied Karachi which became their centre for launching the Afghan wars to contain the Russian advance. As a result, Karachi became an important British cantonment with strategic links with the happenings in Afghanistan and Central Asia. In addition to the role it played in the Afghan wars, in the First World War it was the source of supplies to the white armies fighting the red armies in Central Asia. In the Second World War, supplies to the eastern front were channelled by the Allies through Karachi. Again, during the anti-Soviet War in Afghanistan in the 1980’s and the following wars of attrition in that country, supplies for the war were channelled through Karachi Port. And today, supplies to the NATO troops fighting the Talibaan post- 9/11,arrive at Karachi Port and are then transported over land to Afghanistan.2 Karachi’s involvement in the ongoing Afghan war destabilized it. It became the headquarters of rival interests in the Afghan war and the rivals also found local supporters, some of whom became proxies for the different rival international and regional players involved in the war. Heroin trafficking partly financed the war effort and much of it exited through Karachi port and was also used locally.3 Guns were an essential part of the drug trade. This was the beginning of what the Karachiites call the “drug and Kalashnikov” culture. It was also the beginning of large scale investments, whose sources were undeclared and “unknown”, in land and real estate business. It also led to a further weakening of an already deteriorating governance system. In the early 1990’s, gun power first came to be used to settle land disputes and to forcibly occupy land and property. Through a system of bribes and coercion, the formal governance system became “informalized” and violations of land related laws, rules, regulations and procedures became common. Karachi is Pakistan’s only port city. It contains 32 percent of the total industrial establishment of the country; generates 15 percent of the national GDP; 25 percent of federal revenues; and 62 percent of income tax.4There are also powerful federal interests in the city in the form of the Karachi Port Trust                                                                                                                           1.      For  example,  Liza  Weinstein;  Mumbai’s  Development  Mafias;  Globalization,  Organized  Crime  and  Land  Development;   International  Journal  of  Urban  and  Regional  Research,  Volume  32,  March  01,  2008   2.    Ali  K.  Chishti;  The  Political  Economy  of  NATO  Trucks;  Friday  Times  (Weekly),  Lahore,  15  September  2011.    These  supplies   have  been  discontinued  since  November  2011  after  the  aerial  attack  of  NATO  troops  on  Salelah  check  post  in  northern   Pakistan.     3.        For  details  of  the  Afghan  War,  see  Ahmed  Rasheed  The  Talibaan,  OUP,  Karachi   4.        KSDP-­‐  2020;  City  (District)  Government  Karachi;  2006       9 (KPT), Port Qasim, Customs, Civil Aviation Authority and the armed forces and their various industrial and real estate activities. These powerful institutions own and administer their own land and manage its development independent from the city government. Often there is a clash of interest between them, the city government and the provincial government since the institutional relationship between the different land owning institutions is not clearly defined. An important issue is Karachi’s relationship with its own province of Sindh. The city contains 62 percent of Sindh’s urban population; 30 percent of Sindh’s total population; and 22 percent of Pakistan’s urban population. Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, on the other hand, contains only 7 percent of Punjab’s total population.5 Thus, Karachi is very different from other cities of Pakistan. In addition, Karachi’s large scale industrial sector employees 71.6 percent of the total industrial labour force in Sindh; 74.8 percent of the total industrial output of the province is produced in Karachi; and 78 percent of the formal private sector jobs of the province are located in Karachi.6This enormous importance of the city plays into the politics of Sindh which to a large extent is determined by the ethnic composition of the city and the province in which it is located. This ethnic composition also affects governance related issues. This is because the Sindhi speaking population feels that it is becoming a minority in its own province. There is some justification in this. 73 percent of Karachi’s population in 1941 said that their mother tongue consisted of one of the local provincial languages (Sindhi, Balochi, Gujrati); 6.2 percent said it was Urdu/Hindi, and 2.8 percent said it was Punjabi. Pushto at that time was nonexistent. In 1998, the local languages had declined to 14 percent, Urdu increased to 48.52 percent, Punjabi to 14 percent and Pushto stood at 11.42 percent.7This change has happened because of the huge migration of Urdu speakers, known as Mohajirs or refugees, from India in 1947; the continuous migration of Pushto speakers from the North West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pukhtoonkha) since the 1960’s; and of Punjabi professionals, businessmen and artisans to service the expanding services sector in the city. The Karachi migration has also changed the demography of Sindh as a whole. The Sindhi and local language speaking population of the province has declined from 96 percent in 1941 to 62.64 percent in 1998. The Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 2001 devolved power from the province to the city. Elected representatives replaced the old bureaucratic colonial system. The elections brought the major ethnic party (Muttahida Quomi Movement or MQM as it is called) of Urdu speakers to power. With their control on the city and its resources, the local Sindhi speaking population felt alienated and complained that it had no longer access to the assets of the city. Their representatives, mostly belonging to the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP), also pointed out that the SLGO had been enacted by a military government and as such was not acceptable to them. When democracy returned to Pakistan in 2008, the PPP swept the provincial elections but the MQM emerged as the major winner in Karachi. The PPP could not govern Karachi without MQM support and the MQM did not have the majority in the Sindh Assembly to govern Sindh. Consequently, a coalition government has had to be created.One of the first acts of the PPP after it came to power was to suspend the SLGO and replace it by the old bureaucratic system which brought the cityunder the control of the province. This was resented by the MQM since a decentralized system gives the Urdu speaking population considerable powers in the areas where its constituents live.The conflict over what system Sindh should adopt has continuedsince 2008 between the two main protagonists of Sindh politics without a solution. Since they cannot do without each other,a hybrid system, a marriage between the two, continues to function in Karachi creating confusion and weakening the governance                                                                                                                           5.        Worked  out  from  the  Government  of  Pakistan  Census  reports   6.        KSDP-­‐  2020;  City  (District)  Government  Karachi;  2006       7.    Worked  out  from  the  Government  of  Pakistan  Census  reports     10