Machar Colony
مر کالونی
মাছাব় কলোনি
Unplanned settlement
DistrictKarachi West
CityKarachi
CountryPakistan
Population
 • Total700,000
Time zoneUTC+5 (PST)

Machar Colony (Urdu: مچھر کالونی) (Bengali: মাছাব় কলোনি) or Machiara Colony (Urdu: مچھیرا کالونی) (Bengali: মাছিয়াব়া কলোনি) is an unplanned settlement in Karachi, Pakistan, located near the Port of Karachi and Lyari. The settlement is spread over an area of almost 4 square kilometers,[1] and is home to about 700,000 people.[2] It is considered to be one of the most dilapidated slums in Karachi.[3] Also the level of danger prevalent in Machar Colony becomes apparent when considering one of the most horrifying incidents that occurred there. In this tragic event, a mob in the Colony district brutally killed two telecom employees, falsely accusing them of being kidnappers. The victims were identified as Engineer Muhammad Ayman Javed, the son of Saeed Javed, and Muhammad Ishaq Panhwar, the son of driver Muhammad Haroon.[4]

Most people in the neighborhood are involved in the fishing industry and consequently the area is also known as Fisherman's Colony, with the word Machar derived from the Sindhi word for fisherman machera.[5] Residents of Machar Colony are employed by the fishing industry as shrimp peelers, fishermen, fish cleaners, or labourers in the ship breaking industry.[6] Some of their homes are built on stilts over the water.[7] The few flourishing businessmen that the colony has produced are in the fishing business, which is almost exclusively dominated by the Bengalis. A large majority of residents are Bengali,[3] although there are minorities of Afghans, Kutchis, Pashtuns, Punjabis, Rohingya,[8] and Sindhis.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kolachi, NOS, The News International". jang.com.pk. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  2. ↑ "Stateless and helpless: The plight of ethnic Bengalis in Pakistan | ALJ". Al-Jazeera International. Retrieved 2021-09-29. Machar Colony, one of Karachi's largest slums that is home to an estimated 700,000 people.
  3. 1 2 Guardian Staff (2007-10-10). "Teaching Pakistan's impoverished". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-04-19. One of the poorest and most dilapidated slums in the metropolis of Karachi, Machar Colony is home for hundreds and thousands of families associated with the profession of cleaning shrimp for the nearby port fisheries, with a large majority of Bengali immigrants.
  4. ↑ MM News Staff (2022-10-29). "Machar Colony lynching incident: Who were victims Ayman Javed and Muhammad Ishaq?". MM News. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  5. 1 2 "Inside Machar Colony". labs1.tribune.com.pk. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  6. ↑ Too many mouths to feed in Karachi’s slum fishermen’s colony
  7. ↑ "Inside Machar Colony: Water homes". labs1.tribune.com.pk. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  8. ↑ "Snubbed by all, Machar Colony's disappointed residents evaluating LG options". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2020-04-19.

24°52′N 66°59′E / 24.867°N 66.983°E / 24.867; 66.983


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