The All-Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Awami Workers Party (M), Pakistan People’s Party Human Rights Cell National Commission for Justice and Peace and other social and political organisations have expressed great concern at reports of another round of summary evictions of katchi abadis in the federal capital by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration, and warned of a looming social crisis if the demolitions of informal settlements which has made 50,000 working class people in Islamabad homeless, continues unabated.
Following an emergency meeting attended by representatives of the above-named organisations with community leaders from Allama Iqbal Colony, Rimsha Colony, Dhobi Ghat G-6/2, Muslim Colony, I-9 katchi abadi, I-10 katchi abadi, Muzaffar Colony and others, a joint statement also implored the Supreme and Federal Constitutional Court to take notice of repeated violations of stay orders against summary evictions.
Meanwhile, the meeting participants also wondered why the Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who reportedly intervened to halt evictions in the elite apartment complex One Constitution Avenue, did not order a similar halt to the evictions of katchi abadis and historic villages, suggesting that the government could care less about the plight of Islamabad’s working poor.
If the superior courts and the political executive continue to turn a blind eye to the untold suffering of the capital’s working class population, a clear signal will be sent that the CDA’s anti-people policies have approval from the highest quarters
. The meeting participants noted that successive governments and the CDA have repeatedly refused to acknowledge its failure to meet the housing needs of low-income segments, which has led to the growth of katchi abadis.
By then regularly engaging in summary evictions, the authorities gloss over their elitist bias, reflected in the fact that katchi abadis are declared ‘illegal encroachments’, but land grabs to facilitate gated housing schemes like DHA, Bahria Town and more are actually facilitated. Indeed, the CDA is completely hostage to the interests of big property developers, road construction contractors and bureaucratic elites themselves.
The meeting participants also called upon members of both the National Assembly and Senate to take an urgent stand against demolitions, warning that the legitimacy of Pakistan’s already emaciated democracy is at stake.
They noted that katchi abadi residents are arguably the most important voting bloc in Islamabad, and if elected representatives who have reached the assemblies on the back of katchi abadi residents’ votes completely abandon them to the whims of the CDA then the very basis of democratic representation is hollowed out.
