Speakers at a seminar have requested Supreme Court (SC) to pass a historic decision for comprehensive urban land reforms in the country.
The seminar titled ‘Justice for I-11: Towards Housing for All in Pakistan’ was organized by the All Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis (APAKA) and Awami Workers Party (AWP) at National Press Club.
The speakers also demanded the government to plan and allocate land and resources to address the massive crisis of low-income housing in the country, including for the displaced residents of I-11 sector of federal capital.
AWP Punjab President Aasim Sajjad Akhtar said the Senate had adopted the resolution to stop the Capital Development Authority (CDA) from demolishing the katchi abadis, but now the ball is in SC’s court, where the case in this regard had been processing for last 6 months.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary General of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) IA Rahman said that it was clear that the residents of I-11 and other katchi abadis were targeted because of their class. He said that multiple illegal housing societies for the rich existed all across the country but actions against them had never been taken.
Pakistan’s premier urban developer Arif Hasan observed that successive governments had completely failed to understand the sociology and problems of the poor living in informal settlements, which had led to failed policies and brutal actions like those that occurred in I-11.
Hasan said the only solution to this pervasive problem was widespread urban land reform in the country, including the establishment of land ceiling to prevent wasteful land accumulation in cities.
AWP Chairman Fanoos Gujjar said that institutions like the CDA needed to realize that the country’s resources belonged to all citizens irrespective of class, religion, gender or ethnicity.
The event was attended by a large number of katchi abadi residents, political workers, students, urban planners, members of civil society and ordinary citizens.
The residents of katchi abadis were targeted because of their class, not because it was a question of legality and that no action had been taken against the many illegal housing societies for the rich.
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