Karachi is the biggest city of Pakistan and is called the financial hub and revenue engine of the country. It contributes over 70 percent of the total revenue of the country. Due to the greater employment opportunities, poor people from across the country move to the city to earn their livelihood, the population of the city is increasing rapidly. According to unofficial statistic the population of Karachi has surpassed the 18 millions mark.
Compared with its  growing population, the city lacks proper playgrounds, recreational facilities besides libraries and community centers.
Despite the fact that the city has not enough playgrounds and recreational facilities to cater to the need of Karachiites, for quite some time mafias backed by some political parties have become active to grab the pieces of land allocated for amenity purposes and playgrounds. In connivance of local authorities, the mafias have managed to acquire land of playgrounds and amenity plots for raising big buildings and plazas.
The gangs and mafias involved in the grabbing have managed to get allotment of the plots and lands through forged and fake documents.       
The grabbing of amenity plots and playgrounds has assumed such proportion that it set the alarms bell ringing in the quarters of secret agencies of the country.
Sources told Weekly Pulse that the secret agencies have taken notice to the accelerated grabbing of plots and playground in different town of the city.
According to a report, the secret agencies have received report form their regional offices with startling revelation about the grabbing of amenity plots, playgrounds and other pieces of lands by mafias and consequent construction of big plazas and shops on the amenity lands.
Sources said that the reports also contained ample proofs. The agencies have also filmed the process from grabbing of the lands to construction of plazas and shopping centers.  
According to sources the report contained evidence of grabbing playground and amenity plots in North Nazimabad, Federal B Area, Orangi Town,  Baldia Town, Super Highway and other areas of the city. The sources said that the concerned agencies on the basis of the report have requested the federal and provincial governments to launch grand operation against the mafia and gangs involved in the grabbing, which the backing of some political parties.     
Meanwhile, police authorities have said that recent attempts to grab pieces of land in certain parts of the city have stirred armed violence and claimed the lives of over 10 political activists in a month, and warned that this might lead to large-scale clashes among rival groups and create a severe law and order situation.
Seeking a political solution to the problem, the police high-ups in a recent communiqué to the Sindh home ministry have called for urgent measures to “arrest the situation before it goes out of control”. Officials at both the central police office and the provincial home ministry confirmed that the communication cited the gravity of the situation.
“In the light of such a revealing letter to the ministry, the home department has taken up the matter and is moving fast for a broad-based policy,” said an official at the Sindh government. “The letter from the police command cites the recent incidents of firing and armed clashes in different parts of the city and their causes, which suggests that attempts (to grab pieces of land) by political groups led to deadly clashes.”
The law enforcers, he said, had identified areas of Orangi Town, Baldia and parts of North Nazimabad as flashpoints, where nearly half a dozen incidents of armed clashes have occurred in a month.
“It said that since October 8 to November 5, some five incidents of shoot-outs have been reported to different police stations,” said the official. “These incidents occurred on October 8, 10, 27, 28, 30 and November 5 in the limits of Mochko, Pakistan Bazaar, North Nazimabad and Korangi police stations, in which pedestrians and activists of a couple of political groups were killed.”
Citing a brief extract from the two-page letter to the Sindh home minister from the police hierarchy, he said in most of the incidents people from outside the particular areas tried to possess targeted pieces of land, which provoked inhabitants of the vicinity and prompted clashes.
“The communiqué says that in some cases the administrations of different towns backed by a political group tried to vacate possession of land, which created a law and order situation,” he added.
In fact, he said, the most targeted pieces of land were located in the foothills of the city and fell in the jurisdiction of the city government.
“Areas of Orangi Town around the hills of Toori Bangash have emerged as the most serious cause of contention between the rival political groups,” he said, citing the police’s findings.
The city has witnessed a steep jump in the killings of political activists in recent days, as more than a dozen people belonging to rival groups died in a month. The fresh reports have come as a grim reminder of March 2008, when about 22 activists of three parties – the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Sunni Tehrik and MQM-H – were targeted and killed in the very next month after the February 18 general election.
However, police authorities believe that apart from ideological differences between parties and their scramble for dominance in certain areas, groups’ interest in pieces of land in different parts of the city have emerged as a serious threat to the law and order situation.
“The police have suggested that a solution to the recent violence lies more in political dialogue, and asked the ministry to play its role in this regard,” said the official. “The situation has left the police in a quandary as all the rival groups, one way or another, are partners in the coalition government. So, there is a greater need for the government quarters to mediate and hold dialogue among the parties concerned.”