Assalam-o-Alaikum. My name is Umar Bhatt.
Have you ever thought of buying a plot inside a river? It sounds like a joke. Yet in Pakistan, it is real. Advertisements have appeared in newspapers offering land on riverbeds. This is not clever marketing. It is fraud against nature itself, and when nature is betrayed, it has its own way of taking revenge. This year’s floods have brought the issue back to life.
A Housing Society on the Ravi
When the Ravi River swelled, videos surfaced of Park View Society in Lahore. Its outer wall stands against the riverbank. No country in the world allows such reckless construction. The society belongs to politician Abdul Aleem Khan, who also owns SAMAA News. The project is formally called Ravi River Edge Society, Phase Two.
Aleem Khan’s political career has spanned the Q League, PTI, and now Istehkam-e-Pakistan. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was accused of treating him and Jahangir Tareen as “ATM machines.” In Pakistan’s politics, sponsors fund leaders and are rewarded with freedom for both legal and illegal ventures. The Khokhar brothers in Lahore are accused of doing the same for the Sharif family.
The question is direct: was Ravi land given illegally to Aleem Khan? PTI says Imran Khan refused, which is why Aleem Khan broke away. Imran Khan himself admitted in a podcast that Aleem Khan wanted 300 acres inside the Ravi riverbed legalized. How can riverbed land belong to anyone? The only answer is corruption.
Reports in Bol News revealed Park View Society had occupied 8,000 kanals of government land and sold it. Aleem Khan even claims ownership of 3,000 acres, supposedly bought from a third party. How could a third party own river land? The pattern is familiar: seizure, collusion, and silence.
When Floods Become Political
Like every crisis in Pakistan, floods turn into political fights. After the Ravi floods, PML-N accused Imran Khan’s failed project of causing the damage. PTI countered that if Ravi City under RUDA had been completed, floods would have been prevented. The plan promised a 46 km lake, three barrages, an urban forest, and six treatment plants. Tweets even claimed it could handle 600,000 cusecs of water. Yet in August, just 91,000 cusecs at Shahdara was labelled “high flood.”
Meanwhile, dozens of housing societies spread along the Ravi’s banks. Al Rehman Garden, New Metro City, Kingdom Valley, Iqbal Garden, Al-Karam Garden, and Greenland Residency are among them. Many built illegally on government land. Officials took their share and life carried on until the river rose.
From Rawalpindi to Karachi: The Same Story
Rawalpindi’s floods showed the same truth. Bahria Town Phase 8 and Faisal Hills were accused of encroaching on the Sawan River, reclaiming its bed, and selling plots without NOCs. Cases were filed, but no one believes this happened without the help of the Rawalpindi Development Authority. When rivers are stolen, floods will follow. Blaming climate change is a convenient excuse.
In Karachi, Bahria Town took over land from the Malir, Langerji, and Tharai rivers, diverting natural flows. Villagers now live with routine flooding. Even Bahria Town itself suffered damage during heavy rains in 2022.
And it is not only rivers. Even Karachi’s main sewage drains have been occupied. Gujjar Nala, Orangi Nala, and Mehmoodabad Nala were filled with illegal buildings. These were approved with the help of local authorities. A Supreme Court-ordered clean-up in 2020–21 destroyed thousands of illegal structures. But after the government changed, the mafias returned with political protection. In the recent rains, Karachi’s streets turned to rivers. Cars drowned. Families were stranded for hours.
Playing Games with Nature
Around the world, airports are built far from cities. In Pakistan, housing schemes advertise being “two minutes from the airport” as a selling point. Mountains are cut, rivers are filled, and lakes are squeezed to make hotels. In Swat’s Bahrain and Kalam, hotels rise in the middle of rivers and lakes. Some have already collapsed.
No country allows riverbeds or lakes to be private property. Here, such construction is illegal but thrives with official collusion. When disaster comes, the same corrupt officers arrive to demolish what they earlier approved. Politicians, land mafias, and bureaucrats share the profits. Floods keep coming. The poor keep losing their homes.
A Question Without an Answer
People often ask me for solutions. But what can I suggest? Should I call on government bodies, when they themselves enable the encroachment? Should I hold politicians responsible, when land mafias finance their rallies, elections, even weddings? Even if a new authority is created, it will likely be filled with the same corrupt men.
The truth is bitter. The hearts of those in power are full of greed, not mercy. That is why I can only pray for God’s compassion. Because these men have none.
📹 Source: Umer Butt, YouTube – Watch the original video here
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