Sindh Bachao Tehreek

13/01/2025

16/08/2024

Our teams prepared accurate estimates of cost per house with renowned architect, Arif Hasan, and it was actually PKR 4.2 million - almost 4 times the amount they are offering. When they realized that our legal team will not back down, they made sure we were not allowed in further meetings. When we intervened at the meeting of the Pakistan Engineering Council held in May 2024 that the GoS PC-1 states that estimates will be for 500 square feet homes and not 300 square feet (the basis of the R1.4 million award), they ensured that we would not longer be allowed to push for a higher sum.

We know that there are many fake people on the list. Our research shows there are people on the list who do not even live in the area, let alone having suffered demolition. Our struggle continues to make sure only the entitled are restored and made whole for their losses.



"The cabinet, keeping in view the recommendation of the local Govt department, approved Rs. 10.065 billion as a grant-in-aid for the construction of houses (80 sq yard). The cost per house evaluated by PEC is Rs. 1,450,000. The cabinet also accorded principal approval of the tentative amount for remaining victims for Rs. 1,450,000 per house of 80 sq yard. However, the final list will be provided by the focal person through a verification process as directed by the Supreme Court."

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, presiding over a cabinet meeting, approved Rs10 billion for the...

11/08/2024

Sindh Bachao Tehreek extends its solidarity to BYC for this robust show of strength and for raising their voices with such magnificent organizing against missing persons and the development of the rest of the country at the cost of Baloch exclusion from their own land, sea, and minerals.

24/06/2024

In December 2022, the United Nations write to the GoS for the second time reminding them of their human rights obligations under the International law. here is an excerpt of what they said -

"Since demolitions started, rent prices have almost doubled in remaining houses in the nullah areas. People affected by total demolitions moved to other localities, further away from their children’s schools, which caused many drops-out. Other families went to live with relatives. Those who have stayed on the demolition site owing to lack of housing alternatives face extremely
challenging circumstances. Electricity, water and gas lines have been cut. Partial demolition of houses has left entire families living in overcrowded spaces (sometimes only in one room). In some cases, the rooms left do not have all the walls. Thus, fabric curtains are used for the sake of privacy and security, but residents remain exposed to weather events and risks of trespass and burglary as well as rats, mosquitoes, and pest infestation. Families’ requests to the Government for permission to rebuild the walls has not
received a response yet. Moreover, some of the homes that have been only partially demolished have become highly unsecure because of the risk of land sliding due to incorrect works (digging) during the demolition and the damage made to the foundations."

18/06/2024

Sindh Bachao Tehreek wishes you all Eid Mubarak. Hope Eid-ul-Adha is a blessed occasion for you and your family. We recall another Eid, it was just before Eid-ul-Fitr. On May 18, 2021, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi granted the Orangi naala mutasreen. and Gujjar Nullah Mutasirin a stay order and protected them from all demolitions. Unfortunately the stay was for leased homes. For two weeks, Orangi naala and Gujjar had a blessed Eid. Then Justice Gulzar convened a bench and vacated all stays from the tribunal as well as the high court and demoltions re-commenced. It has always been the state's strategy to obfuscate the legal ownership of leased and even unleased plots and merge them all into a sub human and indefensible category called encroachment.






Sindh Bachao Tehreek, your comrades in struggle.

سندھ بچاؤ تحریک کی طرف سے آپ سب کو عید مبارک۔ امید ہے کہ عید
الاضحی آپ اور آپ کے اہل خانہ کے لیے ایک بابرکت موقع ہے۔

تین سال پہلے کی عید یاد آئی۔ عیدالفطر سے کچھ پہلے کی بات تھی۔ 18 مئی 2021 کو جسٹس حسن اظہر رضوی نے اورنگی اور گجر نالہ کے متاثرین کو حکم امتناعی جاری کرتے ہوئے انہیں تمام مسماری سے محفوظ رکھا۔

بدقسمتی سے سٹے آرڈر ان گھروں کے لیے تھا جن کے لیز پر تھے۔ دو ہفتے اورنگی نالہ اور گجر کی عید اچھی گزری۔ اس کے بعد جسٹس گلزار نے ایک بنچ بلایا اور ٹریبونل کے ساتھ ساتھ ہائی کورٹ کے تمام اسٹے ختم کر دیے۔

یہ ریاست کی ہمیشہ سے حکمت عملی رہی ہے کہ وہ لیز پر دیے گئے اور یہاں تک کہ بغیر کرایے کے پلاٹوں کی قانونی ملکیت کو مبہم کر دے اور ان سب کو ایک غیر انسانی اور ناقابل دفاع زمرے میں ضم کر دے جسے تجاوزات کہتے ہی

سندھ بچاؤ تحریک، آپ کے ساتھی جدوجہد میں۔ #

14/06/2024

*******UPDATE*******

On Mon June 3, the Pakistan Engineering Council held a meeting w reps present. They estimated the cost of building a house at roughly PKR 1.4 million while our calculations based on evidence were much higher - to the tune of PKR 4.2 mn. sindhbachaotehreek. The Pak Engineering Council (PEC), however, had made these erroneous calculations based on a 380 square foot house with tiny kitchens and rooms that are 10 x 10 while the Sindh Government had said in their own official documents, the PC-1, that homes would be 500 square feet.

While we are grateful to our lawyer Faisal Siddiqui for bringing the case this far, Sindh Bachao Tehreek lawyers argued before the Justices on April 8, 2024 and made the case for missing IDs and some of them were registered through a process set up at the Karachi Commissioner's office. Unfortunately, that process was less than transparent.

24/05/2024

Why are we still fighting for Gujjar and Orangi Nullahs. Read these posts to find out more.

Wrongful Deaths, less than 30 percent loss, religious and commercial structures

The case is at the implementation stage and nearing its end. However, two looming and long pending issues have not been resolved - those of 1) wrongful deaths and the 2) the unconstitutional policy to not compensate those who lost less than 30%, religious and commercial structures. As for the first issue, our research has shown at least 38 cases of wrongful deaths, some of which were settled and some were never litigated. But none led to firmly established legal rights or precedent setting. On the second issue - the constitution does not have any such exception to property rights that compensation will be limited only if you lost more than a certain amount. And if these property and housing rights have been abridged through regulations or caselaw, we need to thoroughly interrogate that legal issue. The judges mentioned that the state will impose restrictions on the right to sell alternative plots given to the affectees.