The rule of the bigots

It is entirely possible the CDA may choose to move unilaterally in respect of the slums occupied by poor Christians

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the mandarins of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) are no less bigoted and intolerant than other segments of the general population — after all, entities such as the CDA are but microcosms of wider society. The latest iteration of intolerance is the CDA suggestion that the crisis caused by the ever-expanding slums in the capital may upset the demographic of the city, and specifically that the influx of poor Christians who have come to the capital from across the country might alter the balance and place Muslims in a minority. The assertion came in a reply to the Supreme Court, which also states that the katchi abadis “distort the image of Islamabad” — which was “once one of the most beautiful cities in the world”. The CDA position is that it is necessary to remove these temporary dwellings in order to protect the beauty of Islamabad as well as preventing land from being stolen. Some katchi abadis have been recognised, which it is claimed leads to other encroachments.



There is no doubt that the capital has a large slum problem and has had almost from the outset. Tens of thousands of Afghans have recently found their homes demolished in a drive to ‘clean up’ the capital, and it is entirely possible that the CDA may choose to move unilaterally in respect of the slums occupied by poor Christians. The reality is that the capital needs these poor people, Christian or otherwise, to fill the innumerable low-paid jobs as child carers, sweepers and cleaners, maids, watchmen, daily waged manual labourers and every other category of cheap service provision that may be imagined. There is no provision for cheap housing to accommodate them and it must be no surprise that populations go where the work is — and if that means setting up home in a slum in Islamabad, then that is what they will do. For the CDA to play the ‘Christian’ card in pursuit of its goals is not only bigoted, but potentially dangerous. Fires start with a single spark, and the CDA just handed other bigots a flint.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th,  2015.

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