Johannes Tauler once said, “God touches and moves, warns and desires all equally, and He wants one quite as much as another. The inequality lies in the way His touch, His warnings, and His gifts are received.”

The world thrives on contrast. It always has and it most probably always will. One such disparity is found amidst the elite areas of almost every big city. There are streets lined up with houses that go above a million dollar a piece with every extravagance available, albeit at a price; and only a few meters away, there are katchi abadis (squatter settlements) where necessities of life turn into the most inaccessible luxuries for survival.

Most of us are aware of the conditions these people live in. Due to the fact that such settlements are deemed illegal by the government, they are denied development. Usually they are left on their own, sometimes evicted, at times by force, and the very few lucky ones may get some recognition and development. This development, however, is mostly not from the government but from the civil society or through self-help as we witnessed in Orangi, Karachi.

In Islamabad there was no Akhtar Hameed Khan to initiate successful pilot projects as in Karachi. As a result, the city that started with two labor camps now hosts over 34 such settlements in almost every sector. The Capital Development Authority is vague at best in its policy about these settlements – eviction they cannot do, relocation the people will not accept, and provision of necessities is perhaps too much to ask for.  However, the CDA has recognised 11 of these katchi abadis as eligible for up-gradation by providing basic facilities of sewage, electricity, gas and clean drinking water.  When and how that will happen is another mystery.

A tactic that the government employs successfully (sarcasm intended) is quite an interesting one. It simply puts a wall around these settlements to hide them from general public view. Yes, bury your head in the sand and voila, problem solved. What goes on inside these walled settlements is a reality of the contrast of power and poverty that exists in our country. It is a real life representation of misery, misfortune and melancholy. It is what the cleaners, sweepers, and all those who keep our homes and our cities sparkling clean call life.

They pay more for less. Necessities turn into luxuries while mere survival requires payment to the right people and acquiring the right connections. Maybe, we do not want them to go away from amidst ourselves because we are accustomed to having our dirty work done by someone else, someone underprivileged and someone poor. But this does not mean that we and our government deny them amenities of life. The residents of katchi abadis deserve as much proper sewage, gas and electricity as anyone else (which is barely a few hours a day anyway).

We have already seen how these slum dwellers will not leave the land even if plots are allotted – many sold their government allotted plots in the suburbs of Islamabad for a profit. For why should they not? What makes our authorities think that these people will leave the very center of Islamabad to suburb kilometers away from their job? It is not only pushing them to the periphery, it is in effect taking their employment. Moreover, the National Policy on katchi abadis discourages the forceful eviction of people from such settlements, insisting on alternative accommodation. Community participation with private and public partnership can help build these communities and raise their living standards.

Only a few weeks ago the very parliament got flooded due to monsoon rain, it made news everywhere. But how many give a thought to what such rain might do to the temporary houses of these katchi abadis? Where there is no sewage system and houses barely stand, nature can be quite unforgiving. However, the problem is not always with the government. Provision of basic facilities to people living in katchi abadis should be somewhere in the priority list, if not at the top.

But, demanding transport cost, larger plots in an attempt to simply exploit civic authorities for profit is what is wrong with our brethren living in these illegal encroachments, only 11 out of 34 of which are recognized by the CDA. What we must not forget is that we are raising a cohort in these walled settlements; disparity, lack of facilities, and fight for mere survival can lead to a disgruntled and disillusioned generation.