How Islamabad's posh Bani Gala neighbourhood is built on illegalities
A few months ago, former cricketer and current leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, approached the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) to intervene against Islamabad’s municipal corporate authority, the Capital Development Authority (CDA).
Khan’s main charge against the CDA was that it has failed to curb “encroachments” and “unplanned” constructions in his neighbourhood of Bani Gala, established over three decades ago as an elite residential community in one of Islamabad’s protected regions.
Given its history as a predominantly upscale neighbourhood built in violation of the original master plan of Islamabad, Bani Gala is periodically resurrected in public media as a shining example of how the privileged in Pakistan — from Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan to Imran Khan — freely flout the rule of law in this country.
Bani Gala seems to be back in the news again, however, this time brought to public attention by Imran Khan himself in an effort to highlight what he terms as “municipal lawlessness that reigns supreme” in his neighbourhood.
An online copy of the alleged letter written by Imran Khan to the CJP reproduces the same lines of arguments that have been used to discourage and declare illegal the development of Bani Gala as an elite neighbourhood since the 1980s and 1990s.
Firstly, in his letter to the CJP, Khan cites environmental degradation of Bani Gala through deforestation and encroachment on protected land as evidence of the CDA’s administrative incompetence.
Secondly, the letter identifies a rise in the “unplanned and unregulated” constructions in Bani Gala, lacking proper sewerage and waste disposal systems, which further threaten the environment of the region.
Ironically these two charges levelled by Khan have previously been raised against the elite settlers of Bani Gala (including Khan himself) and largely put to rest through various legal means over the years.
A pristine neighbourhood today, the tale of Islamabad’s most elite locality begins with the grabbing of land before Islamabad’s development authority could get to it.
Residents of Bani Gala have been traditionally accused of disturbing the ecosystem of the area by cutting down trees and dumping sewerage into Rawal Lake, a significant source of drinking water for the residents of Rawalpindi.
Just this month, the contamination of Rawal Dam was again in the news after a large number of fish were found dead in the reservoir.
As an important water source, Rawal Lake is protected under various laws that clearly prohibit construction in its immediate vicinity.
For instance, in 1980, the federal government issued a notification declaring the area falling within two kilometres from the highest watermark of Rawal Lake a part of the Margalla Hills National Park.
This notification needs to be read in conjunction with the Islamabad Wildlife Ordinance, 1979, which strictly prohibits clearing land of trees and plants for any purpose in the Margalla Hills National Park.
However, many mansions on the banks of Rawal Lake, including that of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, fall well within the two-kilometre water mark.
What remains clear is that the CDA and other government departments are fairly inept and unmotivated to ascertain the location of the highest-water mark of Rawal Lake.
Either way, Google Earth confirms that Imran Khan’s house is located atop a small private hill at a short distance from Rawal Lake.