THE catastrophic events after 1979 saw many geo-political, social, environmental and cultural changes, which reshaped the dynamics of Peshawar forever. Until 1979, Peshawar was a quiet, tranquil and manageable town. Cantonment was neat and orderly, and the walled city was a cultural hub, where tourists came to enjoy living tradition and heritage. Amidst the ethnic and linguistic diversity of the city, the gentle Hindko culture also thrived as an integral segment.

Many refined Peshawari business families lived in the city. Everybody knew one another like family. There was a general atmosphere of mutual respect and tolerance; even ethnic and sectarian harmony. When the Soviets invaded neighbouring Afghanistan, millions of Afghan refugees flooded Peshawar - almost overnight.

The city did not have the infrastructure, services or capacity to host such a big population. It burst at the seams giving rise to urban issues of congestion. In the course of time, the Afghan war took a commercial turn. Money was pumped in the region to oil the war machinery.

The contractors, drug lords and smugglers became extremely wealthy in the process all of a sudden. There was no regard for finer and gentler values by the nouveau riche and everything was bulldozed by a strong commercial driven greed. Peshawar saw massive population influx and rural/tribal-urban migration patterns. The new rich not only bought prized properties in Peshawar of immense architectural and historic merit, but also displaced the original inhabitants of the city replacing their hundreds of years old culture.

A ‘tribal’ person had no real emotional connection with a home he bought from a city dweller. So he got it demolished hastily in exchange for money and built a shopping plaza in its place according to his own taste. There was yet another class of Dubai-returned rich who reinforced the same trend.

This cycle of rapid commercialisation and outflux of original inhabitants changed the face of Peshawar in many sordid ways. The Hindko culture which lay at the heart of the walled city could not sustain the onslaught of ever dominating external forces. The elite of the city moved to Lahore and Islamabad and those who could afford moved to newer settlements in Peshawar, leaving very few ‘old guards’ in the form of a struggling lower middle class to look after Peshawar.

Since Peshawar also has a military cantonment, the administration in cantonment is supervised by army. The military by its inherent structure has a system of postings and military administrators are seldom from Peshawar. Generally, they are mostly outsiders and come on posting from other parts of country and are therefore not likely to be well-versed with Peshawar’s culture, history, or its dynamics too deeply. Interventions are often carried out under directives, and between the GHQ, Corps or Station Commander and the Cantonment Executive Officer there is little room for participatory decision making involving locals.

The civilian administrators are no better: In the last three decades Peshawar hasn’t had its own Chief Minister or elected political head from the region, somebody who has genuinely tried to focus on Peshawar and address its myriad urban problems.

Peshawar has grown unplanned and haphazardly in the meantime like a mass of protoplasm. If one looks at Google Earth images of Peshawar today one will see slums choking Peshawar from all sides.

Peshawar was historically built around a river system (Kabul River which lay at the heart of Gandhara Civilisation, just like Indus Civilisation formed around Indus and Egyptian Civilisation around the Nile etc.) Areas irrigated by the Kabul are the most fertile lands and have served as a ‘food basket’ since time immemorial. Ideally agricultural lands and green patches should have been left untouched.

But unfortunately, all the physical construction and unplanned concrete development is being carried out on fertile land unchecked since last many decades. It is year 2021 and Peshawar does not even have a land-use Master Plan.

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has constituted a special steering committee, an advisory committee and three working groups comprising experts dealing with urban development, cultural heritage and tourism, and social and environmental policy and legislation.

Under the Peshawar Revival Plan, several marathon sessions have been held and the committees are mandated to present a holistic and practical plan to make Peshawar more liveable, culturally vibrant, sustainable, and an engine of economic growth.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2021