Opinion: Saddar shopkeepers should be given alternate spaces

The shopkeepers in Saddar who had allotment challans should have been given other places to relocate their businesses, argues Agenda360 show host Moiz Jaferii. “Shops and stalls on encroached land around Empress Market should be demolished because the Supreme Court ordered it," he said. He was commenting on Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s anti-encroachment drive in the city. KMC has so far demolished over 1,500 shops in Saddar on the orders of the Supreme Court. Co-host Haider Waheed said people had been doing business in Saddar for over 30 years and they should have been given more time to look for alternate places. “They should be given shops elsewhere,” Waheed said. “It’s all the provincial and local government's fault.” They said that the Supreme Court and Justice Gulzar Ahmed should be lauded for their efforts to clear the city of illegal settlements. But the top court should not allow the government or any entity to use this land for commercial purpose and gardens should be built on this land.