Land Grabbers in Karachi: An Analysis of Political Roots

Poverty alleviation is the trendy and fashionable slogan for the end of the 1990s. Projects defined with a specific focus on the poor, often help via donor money, channelled through non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This attempt, while well meaning, will invariably be at a micro level with a narrow focus, often ignoring the causes for the existence of poverty in the first place. Band-Aid social work of this variety will certainly improve the living conditions of a number of beneficiaries in the project area. However, land grab is primarily a political issue, caused and maintained by factors of a macro nature and by institutions, which function in a specific, political, environment. This article, argues that politics comes prior to land grabbing, as do institutions. The failure of institutions to address issues of land grabbing, causing substantial breaks to the development of this megapolis, are seen here as essentially political failures. Pondering back over the last three decades, it would be difficult to find a more politicized, violent, ethnically divided, alienated city than Karachi. The paper concludes with the assertion that far-reaching and substantial political and institutional reform must come first in any attempt to alleviate land-grabbing, particularly in Karachi.