Anti-encroachment drive against Karachi's Urdu Bazaar postponed amid protest

KARACHI: An-anti encroachment drive threatening to raze the historic Urdu Bazaar in Karachi has been postponed after shopkeepers and road-side merchants staged a protest against the operation.

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, which launched an operation against illegal encroachments in the city on the Supreme Court's orders late last year, had given a three-day deadline to shopkeepers to vacate their stalls before they commenced the latest phase of the anti-encroachment drive.

Urdu Bazaar, Tyre Markey and other shops had been served notice on January 4, with the three-day deadline ending on January 8 at midnight.

However, now a four-member committee comprising members of the estate office, municipal services and two representatives of the book bazaar has been formed to decide the future of shops in and around the historic book market.

According to sources, the committee will submit a report clarifying that Urdu Bazaar is not located over a drain in the next two days. A decision about the fate of the market is expected on Thursday.

Earlier this week, shopkeepers and road-side merchants of the city's Urdu Bazaar staged a protest against the anti-encroachment drive. The protesters, led by the Urdu Bazaar Market Association and the Booksellers Association, highlighted that the famed and beloved Bazaar was not just a group of businesses but a cultural heritage of Karachi.