Bigoted statement: Christian groups seek apology from CDA chief

Civic agency’s statement in court contrary to ground position, says CYUF

ISLAMABAD:

Widespread indignation and outrage continue over the Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s bigoted comments about Christians residing in informal settlements in Islamabad.

Minority groups have now demanded an unconditional apology from the authority’s head, Maroof Afzal, for the controversial written reply submitted by the agency in the country’s top court a few days ago in a case related to removal of slums in the capital.

The CDA had claimed that if the settlements were allowed to grow at the current pace, one day, Christians would outnumber Muslims in the capital. The statement, apart from its offensive nature, was also not backed up by any facts.

“The reply is contradictory to the ground situation and shows the CDA’s ignorance about exact population in the city,” says Shahzad Anjum of the Christian Youth Uplift Forum (CYUF), an Islamabad-based non-governmental organisation working for the betterment of the marginalised citizens.

Sharing details about Christian-populated slums and the number of families residing there, he said, the agency’s reply was a “pack of lies, tantamount to disgracing minorities”.

The CYUF database suggests that out of 42 informal settlements, only 15 are Christian-populated, housing some 57,000 people.

The Christian settlements include 100 Quarters in F-6/2, France Colony in F-7/4, Faisal Colony, 66 Quarters and Musharraf Colony in G-7, Hansa Colony, Charles Colony, J Salik Colony and Maskeen Colony in G-8, Christian Colony in H-9, Esa Nagri in I-9, and Christian Colony in Iqbal Town.

“The current population of Islamabad is approximately two million. How could the CDA claim that the Christian population is a threat to the Muslim majority?” Anjum asked.

Life for All (LFA) President Xavier William said they would soon submit a petition in the Supreme Court against the CDA’s comments.

“Instead of ensuring affordable housing for the poor, the state has labeled them as threats,” William said, adding while submitting such frivolous reply the CDA bosses might forget the unmatchable services of over 2,000 Christians employed at the Islamabad’s civic agency as sanitary workers.

William demanded that the responsibility should be fixed on officials who drafted the reply and approved it for submission in court.

The Awami Workers Party (AWP) Secretary Information, Ammar Rashid said that making scapegoats out of minorities was not new for the CDA.

“The CDA has a history of fear-mongering about marginalised groups to achieve its objectives,” he said, adding that over the summer, the agency successfully exploited fears about the I-11 katchi abadi being full of ‘dangerous’ Afghan refugees, when it was actually populated by working-class Pakistani Pakhtuns.

“The real issue is the fact that the CDA is an unaccountable bureaucracy that has a distinctly anti-poor, anti-minority bias,” Rashid added.

He called upon the CDA to come up with low-income housing solutions for working class people as recently directed by the Supreme Court.

The CDA spokesperson did not respond for comment till the filing of this story.

On Monday, the court reply also came up in the Senate.

Legislators said the CDA’s statement was in contradiction with the provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan.

The house referred the issue to the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat with directions that a report be compiled and submitted within a week.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2015.