Ghareebabad Furniture Market, which has been around for forty years or so in Karachi, was demolished on Saturday, by the Deputy Commissioner of Central District, over being an encroachment.

Liaquatabad Assistant Commissioner Sarah Amjad told Aaj News that the shops were being removed on the orders of Deputy Commissioner Taha Saleem. She said that Kashif Jafri, the president of the market committee, had been warned three days earlier.

Aaj News contacted the president of the market committee, Kashif Jafri, who directed questions to the vice president Agha. (Agha sahib declined to share his full name).

According to Agha, the shops were set up on land that belonged to Pakistan Railways. Four years ago, when the government was trying to restore the Karachi Circular Railway, the Ghareebabad Furniture Market was evicted. But they returned when there were delays in KCR. At that time, Karachi’s mayor Wasim Akhtar had assured them of an alternate place.

Agha claimed that they had a verbal agreement with Pakistan Railways that they would vacate the land themselves whenever KCR started. This is why they have not built permanent concrete shops.

The assistant commissioner said, however, that the market committee had not been able to provide any evidence of an agreement with Pakistan Railways.

The market has about 150 shops on both sides of the 145-meter KCR track. About five hundred people had jobs and the demolition impacts about 2,500 people if their families are included.

Shopkeeper Nauman said he had lost Rs200,000 and was now jobless.

A customer named Bilal said that he had earlier spent Rs70,000 on furniture for one sister’s wedding and was disappointed to see the market had been demolished when he came for another sister. This market was crucial for people like him who could not afford furniture worth thousands of rupees from big showrooms or elite markets.

When asked about the impact on the poor who used came to the market, the assistant commissioner responded that the purpose of vacating the place was to benefit the public. This was not a place for a market but for pedestrian movement.