Bulldozed Along a Drain: Karachi’s St Joseph Church Falls in an Anti-Encroachment Drive

• Sindh’s anti-encroachment squad demolished St Joseph Church in Karachi, which served over 300 Christian families
• The drive targeted homes and buildings along the Gujjar and Orangi drains
• More than 66,500 people had been displaced and thousands of homes demolished
• UN experts criticised the lack of consultation, relocation and adequate compensation

St Joseph Church in Karachi, which served more than 300 Christian families, was demolished by the Sindh government’s anti-encroachment squad despite community resistance, UCA News reported on August 24, 2021. Karachi Bachao Tehreek, the Save Karachi Movement, confirmed the demolition.

The church was one of many buildings pulled down along the Gujjar and Orangi stormwater drains. Up to 12,000 homes housing 96,000 people could be affected. More than 66,500 people had already been displaced, with 4,900 houses demolished along the Gujjar nulla and 1,700 along the Orangi nulla. Officials said the drive followed a court order to clear encroachments near waterways after flash floods in 2019.

United Nations experts criticised the operation as carried out “without adequate consultation with the affected residents, no relocation plan, and disparate and insufficient compensation”. They said “intimidation and unlawful detention have allegedly been used on numerous occasions against residents protesting the demolitions.”

For the Christian families of the area, the loss of their church came on top of the loss of homes.

Building near gullies, rivers and drains is a familiar risk in Jamaica too, where flooding has repeatedly led to calls to clear structures from waterways. Churches that sit on or near drainage reserves or government land may one day face similar orders. Checking whether a site lies within a reserve, getting approvals and planning for relocation before a crisis are the best ways to protect a congregation’s investment.

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