KARACHI: At least 90 people have been arrested in the Bahria Town neighborhood of Karachi, southern Sindh province, as a protest against alleged land grabbing turned violent on Sunday evening, police said.

Bahria Town Karachi (BTK) is a privately owned gated housing society covering 68 square kilometers off the M-9 Motorway northeast of Karachi. It was established by Pakistani property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain in 2014, whom for the past few years indigenous Sindhi communities living in the area have been accusing of usurping their ancestral land.

Sunday's demonstration was organized by various Sindhi groups, including the Sindh United Party, Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party, Qaumi Awami Tehreek, Jiye Sindh Mahaaz, Awami Workers Party, Awami Jamhoori Party, Sindh Mazahmat Tehreek, Hari Committee and Karachi Indigenous Rights Alliance.  

Shops, cars and other property were set ablaze in the upscale housing community and the main road connecting Karachi with the rest of the country was blocked by protesters for several hours.

"Around 90 people have been arrested,” Saqib Ismail Memon, deputy inspector general of Karachi East, told Arab News.

He added the situation was under control, traffic was restored, and an investigation was underway.

Gul Hasan Kalmati, a local historian and one of the organizers of the protest, said police and BKT management had blocked the way to the place where the demonstration was scheduled to be held and that prompted the protesters to block the motorway.

"We don’t know who attacked and managed to enter Bahria town amid strict security measures and who allowed them to spoil a peaceful protest for the rights of indigenous people," Kalmati told Arab News.

While neither the housing community nor the local government have commented on the incident, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said in a statement that BTK "should resolve their matter at the soonest so that citizens may live peacefully."

In May 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the Malir Development Authority under the Sindh government, had illegally granted land to BTK. In 2019, the court agreed to BTK's final settlement of Rs460 billion to be paid over seven years.

In April this year, clashes broke out between BTK and indigenous communities when the housing development allegedly expanded into nearby villages.