Divided we stand: The rise and fall of the Hayatabad wall

Khyber Agency residents continue to use illegal entry points to enter the city.

PESHAWAR:

Even as one of the most developed residential localities in the city with two police stations to maintain law and order, Hayatabad is rife with cases of extortion, kidnapping for ransom, car theft and armed robberies.

Recently, the boundary wall around the posh neighbourhood – phases six and seven of which border the Khyber Agency – was reconstructed. Walls were also renovated around Hayatabad Industrial Estate by the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) on the chief minister’s instructions.

But those on the other side of the wall are less than happy about the divide. Each time repairs are made, residents of the Khyber Agency and Achini, located on the fringe of the city, take it upon themselves to create shortcuts to Peshawar by creating large holes in the wall. And Hayatabad’s dwellers feel this time will be no different – the boundary barricade will be unable to fulfil its original purpose: Keeping away criminals.

“People of Khyber Agency work in Hayatabad as guards or drivers and are also employed at the industrial estate as labourers so they are totally dependent on the locality for a living,” a resident of Hayatabad, Saeed Khan, told The Express Tribune. He added in the past 20 years, he has seen barbed wires and security walls erected time and again around Hayatabad but several gaps are always visible, and used by kidnappers and other criminals.

“During the recent reconstruction, authorities were unable to completely plug all the entry and exit points as residents of Khyber Agency instantly demolish parts of the wall to ensure easy access for themselves. Even motorcycles can pass through,” he said.

Bring it down

In the past, whenever authorities decided to reconstruct the wall and close all illegal routes, tribesmen came together and threatened PDA officials of dire consequences, even to demolish the entire wall.

The government has now decided to install close-circuit cameras to monitor the boundary round the clock.

“The construction of the boundary wall around the industrial estate is already complete and we have repaired the wall around Hayatabad too,” said an official of PDA while talking to The Express Tribune.

Another resident of Hayatabad complained the easy access meant liquor and drugs were reaching the neighbourhood with ease.

A Frontier Constabulary (FC) official deployed at one of the FC check posts in Phase-VI shared there was only one legal entry point in the area and it was adjacent to their post so there was no question of it being used for drug trafficking or other crimes.

“The main passage is mainly used by female students from the tribal territory who study in government schools in Hayatabad, and patients as there is no well-equipped hospital in the agency,” he said. The real problem was the unguarded hole-in-the wall style exits, he added.

“I know in Phase-VII the wall is broken on the side of the nullah and used for criminal activities, but the officials are not paying any attention to it,” said the FC official.

During the past several years, Hayatabad has witnessed innumerable kidnappings for ransom, robberies and terror attacks.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2014.