Land mafia constructs house in graveyard, installs pillar on old graves in Karachi

KARACHI: Despite strict directives issued by the top court against encroachments and land grabbing mafias, a house has been illegally built in a local graveyard in Karachi, whereas, the pillars of the residence were installed on old graves, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The land-grabbing mafia has reportedly started illegal construction in Paposh Nagar graveyard and built a house and its stairs by demolishing many graves. The footage showed that the staircase of the residence was also built on the graves, however, no action was taken by the local administration so far.

The foundation of the building was laid in such a manner that more floors will be constructed on the land.

Surprisingly, the video emerged on the day when the top court held a hearing at Karachi Registry regarding the encroachments in Preedy Street and Urdu Bazaar areas of the metropolis.

During the hearing, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed expressed outrage over the local administration for not taking action against the illegal constructions of shops and houses on nullahs in both areas.

Justice Ahmed remarked that the green zones were also destructed by the land grabbing mafias, depriving the citizens of the tree just to construct buildings for commercial purposes. The municipal commissioner told the top court that authorities were taking action against the encroachments which will be ended soon.

The apex court also rejected the plea of the residents of P&T Colony and remarked that the land belongs to the government. The houses had been constructed for the employees and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has no right to lease the land, he said.

The chief justice directed authorities to expedite action for ending the encroachments in the metropolis.