Imran asks AGP to file review plea over SC order against encroachments

ISLAMABAD: Following clamours seeking government’s intervention in the anti-encroachment drive that is about to hit residential areas, Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the attorney general of Pakistan to file a review petition on the top court’s order to remove all encroachments across the metropolis, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail met PM Khan on Tuesday in which he apprised him of reservations of people regarding the anti-encroachment drive.

The Supreme Court on October 27 had directed Mayor Karachi, Wasim Akhtar, to remove all encroachments from the city’s amenity plots and pavements with the help of law enforcement agencies, and granted a 15-day deadline to city authorities for compliance of its orders.

The SC directives came as a bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar heard a case against land mafia in Karachi at the apex court’s Karachi Registry.

The KMC team galvanized into action after the court orders and razed hundreds and shops and buildings that were built ‘illegally’. Intermittent protests also occurred against government action that deprived thousands of workers of the livelihood in the wake of razing of hundreds of shops.

On Nov 14, Provincial Minister of Local Bodies Saeed Ghani said that a committee had been formed to recompense the losses of those who were rightful affectees of the anti-encroachment drive.

The deserving individuals who suffered losses to their properties during the operating against encroachments will be given compensations as per the recommendations of the constituted committee, he said.

Yesterday (Dec 4), the Sindh High Court issued a stay order on a petition filed by residents of Garden East against razing of a building in the area.

The anti-encroachment team of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) was set to demolish a building in the Garden East area. However, residents of the building approached the SHC seeking to stop KMC machinery from their ‘illegal action.’