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“YOU have built here what you or anyone might have built anywhere else, but you have destroyed what was unique in the world.” These words of King Charles (Carlos) V echoed in my mind the other day while passing through Shah Allah Ditta, a village in the suburbs of Islamabad.
The king said this while visiting the renaissance cathedral that was built within the structure of the mosque of Cordoba, thus destroying the harmony of the mosque’s original structure. Shah Allah Ditta in Punjabi literally means God’s gift. With trees all around and the Margalla hills in the backdrop it does seem like a gift of nature but I am afraid it will soon be just another skyline riddled with concrete structures.
The Capital Development Authority (CDA), the civic body responsible for developing and managing city land, is hell-bent on destroying Islamabad, the (once) beautiful. The CDA Zoning Regulation 2005 divides the capital into five zones. Its definition of Zone III is as follows: “Margalla Hills National Park as notified under Section 21 of the Islamabad Wild Life (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Ordinance 1979 and other protected ranges, forest areas and un-acquired land falling between Margalla Hills and the north of Murree Road shall constitute this zone”.
Illegal housing societies are devouring the Margalla hills.
According to CDA regulations, no change in land use will be permissible in this zone except preservation, forestation and recreation, and no sale/purchase of land, which entails change in some of the existing rural settlements, is allowed. To make things crystal clear, the regulations state that the existing rural settlements would not be allowed to expand and no residential scheme can be floated in the zone. Such clarity should have been enough to deter anyone from planning to build a residential scheme in the area, but in Pakistan, who cares?
The reality is that there are countless housing schemes being launched in village Shah Allah Ditta which falls in Zone III and the hillocks are being levelled to the ground under the very nose of the federal government.
CDA has of late been vigilantly carrying out raids on restaurants operating in residential buildings but no one cares if illegal housing societies are devouring the Margalla hills. This mafia is so influential that one CDA chairman replaces the other but the ease with which these illegal housing schemes are being developed stays unaffected.
Why CDA is turning a blind eye to these projects is anybody’s guess — many influential politicians as well as military and civil officers have reportedly acquired land in the area. Interestingly, the rules do not allow transfer of ownership in this zone of the city but those at the helm of this game are well versed in finding lacunae in the law for personal benefit. As a result the land is being acquired from locals on an indefinite lease. Furthermore, greasing the correct palms helps in even getting electricity connections for these illegal dwellings. Sometimes one wonders if people think they would be able to bribe their way into heaven or dodge death as well.
The violations in this case are so conspicuous that it cannot be attributed to unintentional neglect. The Environmental Protection Agency, CDA and even security agencies seem to be deliberately overlooking the illegal construction work. All that CDA has ever done is to publish notices on its website that building in zone so and so is illegal but nothing more than that. However, if one happens to be a street hawker trying to scratch a living by selling groceries at a roadside stall, officials from CDA’s anti-encroachment wing will swoop in, confiscate the items and destroy the illegal ramshackle structure immediately.
The writ of the state is applied in full and the local bureaucracy applauded for removing encroachments. Every day we thus make a mockery of Article 25 of the Constitution which states: “All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.” When it comes to catching big fish, the state has neither the will nor the capacity to do something.
It seems everyone is happy with this slumber until some foreign journalist from a foreign paper breaks the story and then everybody becomes an expert on the issue overnight. The interior minister would
also launch an inquiry into the matter and the security agencies might start seeing the project as a threat to Islamabad as these dwellings are near sensitive installations as well.
Lastly, I hope that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is not expecting someone else to take strict action against those flouting the law. The military or the judiciary wrests power only when the civilian government surrenders it. Interestingly, the proposed GHQ in Islamabad is hardly a kilometre from these illegal schemes which makes one wonder if this too has to be taken up by some other Sharif.
The writer is a former civil servant.
Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2015
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