OVER several years now, there have been warnings that Pakistan is an increasingly food-insecure country, and large sections of its population are going hungry or are malnourished. There are several reasons for this, from rising prices of daily dietary essentials to increasing rates of poverty and the fact that food production is simply not keeping pace with the needs of a growing population. This is disturbing enough given that this is a country that has a largely agricultural economy. But even more worrying is the manner in which myopia, mismanagement and policymaking for short-term gains at the cost of long-term benefits combine to strip away citizens’ most fundamental rights. Consider, for example, the recent news that the Pakistan Army-managed Defence Housing Authority has planned two major housing schemes in Peshawar. That this is the only news on the sector from the area is in itself surprising because while there is a severe shortage of housing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (and the rest of the country), the need is for affordable, low-income dwellings rather than mansions of the sort that are identified with the DHA, and which come with price tags in the multiple millions. But, as if to further insult the poor of the province, there is the location. These schemes are to be established on a vast tract of land that is populated, fertile and being used for agricultural purposes. The area is, indeed, considered the ‘food basket’ of the province and a variety of fruit, vegetables and crops are grown there. Moreover, should work go ahead with these housing schemes, the displacement of some 100,000 people is likely, along with bringing to an end their source of earning — farming.

There are precedents that can be used to show that in the past, policymakers have recommended that agricultural land not be given over for commercial or other purposes. Better sense needs to prevail here. The DHA is a powerful group with interests all over the country; its practice of swallowing land wholesale to build colonies for the elite while leaving the poor dispossessed is amply in evidence. It is for KP’s policymakers and Peshawar’s city planning authorities to intervene and make sure that alternative locations are found. Certainly, cities need to expand. But development must not cater to one section of society at the cost of another. Further, a food-insecure country cannot afford to throw away precious agricultural land.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2014