IT is difficult to recall any single urban development project from the history of Pakistan that has generated as much controversy and triggered as much public outrage as Lahore’s Orange Line train scheme. The conservationists are up in arms against the project, the defenders of cultural heritage are protesting vociferously and all those threatened with dislocation are crying out for justice.

The reasons for this uproar are that the project defies the logic of rational development priorities, that it poses a grave threat to Pakistani people’s historical and cultural heritage, that it violates the law of the land, that it entails uprooting of thousands of families from their traditional settlements, and that it exposes the government’s insensitivity to public calls for responsible conduct.

Whatever may have been done by the promoters of the project to prove its feasibility and secure people’s approval through a perfunctory public hearing, they have not succeeded in justifying their plan on economic or social grounds. The idea of providing Lahore with modern transport facilities, such as signal-free expressways and underground/overhead train services, can be presented as a symbol of high-level development. But it is impossible to prove that such projects should be given preference to the poor people’s need for decent housing, the children’s need for meaningful education, and the workers’ need for social security.

The authorities are determined to shut heritage sites from public view and even to see them reduced to rubble.

Where will the huge resources required to complete the train project come from? The fear that money will be diverted from the social sector to finance this project, as has happened with mega projects earlier, cannot be dismissed as groundless.

That the project threatens heritage sites can easily be shown. A project map published in this paper’s magazine section on Sunday last shows that the train route runs close to a number of historical/

cultural monuments — Zaibunnisa’s tomb, Chau­burji, St Andrew’s Church, Naulakha Church, the railway station, GPO, Dai Angah’s tomb, the Mahabat Khan tomb and the Shalamar Gardens. No other route could have threatened all these monuments. The plan violates the Antiquities Act and the Special Buildings Protection Act that bar any interference in the space close to the protected sites.

More importantly, Shalamar and Chauburji are not only part of Lahore’s heritage, they constitute a significant part of the heritage of the entire population of Pakistan. Their place in heritage sites of the world cannot be ignored either. Pakistan’s role in ensuring their proper maintenance and protection is that of a trustee. It has a duty to preserve these monuments as they are akin to the footprints of humankind in its journey through the ages. Failure to conserve these monuments will amount to erasing the history of the Pakistani people and to obliterating what belongs to the world at large.

Societies conscious of their historical and cultural roots make great efforts to have their historical sites included in world heritage and here in Pakistan, the authorities are determined to shut heritage sites from public view and even to see them reduced to rubble. Pakistan has already invited censure for failure to guarantee proper maintenance of Mohenjodaro, Harappa, and a string of Buddhist monuments; what is being done to the Shalamar Gardens and Chauburji will cause it endless embarrassment in the international cultural councils.

The way the sponsors of the project are ignoring its cost in terms of dislocation of thousands of families can only be described as callousness. The localities threatened the most include Jain Mandir, Kapurthala House, and several small settlements such as Parachute Colony.

Many of the families here have been occupying their modest dwellings for decades, some since the era of independence. The contention that many of them are unauthorised squatters does not extinguish their basic right to housing nor does it absolve the state of its duty to provide them with shelter. The official offer of compensation has reportedly been rejected by the affected people as inadequate. Besides, no compensation is possible for the disruption of neighborhood ties and social relationships developed over decades of living together.

Although governments in Pakistan have long been known for their insensitivity to the grievances of the public and the latter’s aspirations to be treated justly, the failure to listen to the clamour against the Lahore train project is quite amazing. The only possible conclusion is that the powers that be have become too arrogant to pay heed to the complaints of the people or to any rational counsel.

One is not sure about the identity of the elements determined to push the train project in spite of the opposition from conservationists, cultural experts and the affected population. This is because of the existence of a strong project mafia.

From the days of the first edition of the Public Works Department in the subcontinent each construction project has been attracting a variety of operators — builders, contractors, kickback manipulators, planning experts, lobbyists, jugglers of statistics, et al. The bigger a project the greater is the appetite of its promoters. Pakistani authorities and the public are fully aware of the tactics that the resourceful project mafias employ to persuade the political authorities to read the files through their glasses.

The confrontation between the Orange Line train lobby and civil society has been going on for many weeks. A way must be found to resolve the issue. The Punjab government cannot possibly allow the project’s promoters a free hand to mock at the experts and run the train with unbridled exercise of authority. It must take a critical look at the whole affair and try to resolve it. The provincial assembly also cannot overlook its duty to debate the matter. As pointed out earlier, the federal authority and parliament too cannot ignore the threat to world heritage. Unless the points of contention between the project controllers and the defenders of the heritage are resolved, the project will cut into the hearts of the people deeper than the trenches that are being dug all over the city.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2015