Machar Colony

Machar Colony or Machiara Colony (Urdu: مچھیرا کالونی ‎) is one of the neighbourhoods of Kiamari Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Many people in the neighborhood are involved in the fishing industry and consequently the area is also known as Fisherman's Colony.

There are several ethnic groups in Machar Colony. Bengalis from Bangladesh make up the majority of residents, but numerous other groups are represented, including: Muhajirs, Sindhis, Punjabis, Kashmiris, Memons, Bohras, Ismailis and Christians.

Machar Colony's total population is estimated to be over 700,000 people, a majority of them being children between ages 5 and 15. Over 41 per cent of Karachi's population lives in unregulated neighborhoods (katchi abadis). Machar Colony is also amongst the biggest (maybe the biggest) of Karachi's over 550 unregulated neighborhoods.

Most people in Machar Colony are employed by the fishing industry as shrimp peelers, fishermen, fish cleaners, or labourers in the ship breaking industry. The few flourishing businessmen that the colony has produced are in the fishing business, which is almost exclusively dominated by the Bengalis. The other ethnicity that has a significant presence in the Colony are Sindhis.

See also

• Bengalis in Pakistan
• Machiara Colony
• Chittagong Colony

External links

• Karachi Website
• Kiamari Town
• Machar Colony on Wikimapia