Afghan basti: CDA’s blind eye under the microscope

Agency to identify employees whose negligence let settlement repopulate.


Danish Hussain April 21, 2014
A photo of a slum in Islamabad. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: After failing to remove an illegal slum in Sector I-11, city managers have been told to move against the officials who let the settlement pop up in 2007, barely two years after it was successfully vacated.

Responding to an of Interior Ministry directive, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has ordered an inquiry into the repopulation of the slum.

“An inquiry has been ordered to determine lapses and responsibilities on behalf of officials who served the CDA’s katchi abadi cell and enforcement wing from 2007 to 2013,” said a senior official of the authority.

In 2005, inhabitants of the slum, widely referred to as the Afghan basti were successfully removed following a massive eviction operation carried out by the CDA and the ICT Administration on court orders.

But by 2007, the illegal settlement had started coming ‘back to life’. The slum continued to grow until March 2013, when the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that around 864 families comprising 7,995 individuals are residing here.

Interestingly, the survey’s findings showed that the ‘Afghan basti’ title is misleading, as only 114 registered and 27 non-registered Afghan refugee families — 1,022 individuals — live there, while the other 6,973 people are either internally displaced persons from the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) or Pakhtun families from different parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The slum in not just the CDA’s problem. Around 487 private parties have lawful ownership of plots there.

Recently, these land owners became party to a case in the Islamabad High Court in which the petitioners have requested the court to direct authorities to clear their land of all encroachments.

In the past, the CDA has made several failed attempts to get the land vacated.

CDA spokesperson Asim Khichi said the authority sent final notices to illegal occupants on Saturday, asking them to voluntarily vacate the area. He said the notice was issued under sections 49-A and 49-C of the CDA Ordinance.

In case of noncompliance, the authority has threatened the occupants with forced eviction.

Meanwhile, to help determine the growth pattern, “Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) will be requested to provide satellite images of the Afghan Basti for the years from 2007 to 2013,” the official said.

He said the images would show what time period saw the settlement grow, adding that the officers who were responsible for stopping encroachments during that specific period would be held responsible for their negligence.

Some of the CDA officers responsible for curbing encroachments in the area had allegedly allowed the slum to expand in return for bribes from the people moving in.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2014.

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