Parliament should come up with plans to provide alternative housing to katchi abadi residents
JAMSHORO: This letter is apropos the operation started by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to evict illegal residents of the sector I-11 katchi abadi of Islamabad. On July 30, the CDA bulldozed a substantial portion of the katchi abadi accommodating more than 8,000 people and it has been proclaimed that most of the residents were Pakistani citizens. I cannot help but wonder at the poor policy and strategy of the institutions that carried out this operation in such frenzy that it ended up causing injury to several people, police officials and employees of the CDA. Provision of all basic rights of citizens is the responsibility of the state, but it seems that it has makeshift action plans and policies regarding the problems of its citizens.
After this operation, there was a hue and cry in parliament regarding its legality and the question of alternative housing for the residents was discussed. Some parliamentarians went so far as to label the residents as criminals. It is not the job of parliamentarians to decide who is a criminal — that decision is for the judiciary to make. Parliament should come up with productive plans for providing alternative housing to katchi abadi residents rather than insulting the dignity of human beings.
Nirdosh Odhano
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2015.
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