Peshawar, like other main cities of Pakistan, has a number of poor families comprising of mostly women and children, living in makeshift tents on empty areas. We have all seen them and have read about how local authorities have a tough time removing their “illegal” homes from government land.
These people are stuck in a unique conundrum. These families are poor and have very few male members that can do proper earning job. Since these families have mostly children who are unfortunately forced into child labour or begging and since they don’t own any land, they have to live on government areas, but the law in Pakistan forces the land owners, that is government organisations, to evict the squatters to avoid future land confiscation.
They don’t own proper tents and the law in Pakistan does not allow them to create mud walls, as that can be construed as taking possession of land. Therefore the women and children are forced to live in makeshift tents even in tough weather. These families do not have any access to clean drinking water and toilets. The women and children of these families spend most of their day looking for water and combustible material to use as cooking fuel.
For the governments of Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it would be easy to provide unused government land for these families to construct mud houses. They can be provided with new bigger tents with weather and rain protection, as there are many suitable designs available for low cost. Since these families have mostly children and women, the government can provide them with government owned homes that are clustered around a school or women working and training organisation. There is a lot of vacant government land available that can be leased out under such a project.
There are many options available that are cost effective and can help these poor families get out of their poverty cycle. Therefore, I request the governments of KPK and Pakistan to please create a system or law that would allow these families to live in safe and protective homes and have safe water and toilets available. Even big land owning government organisations can be asked to allot 15 percent of their land to such projects and laws can amended to make ensure that no land is taken over.
ENGR SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar
