Daily Times

The brutal operation by the Islamabad administration and security forces to evict occupants of the I-11 slums exposed the reality of the world we live in. It is a world in which the life, shelter and dignity of the poor are non-existent and they are treated as lesser beings, and in which, for the luxury, comfort, safety, security and financial interests of the rich, the poor have become fair game. Whether the court itself ordered these evictions can be debated, because many legal lacunas in the verdict of Justice Siddiqui were raised by observers in recent days. But more than that, how the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and administration acted, how the media blacked out the barbarity and how there was near silence about the issue make the episode terrifying.
First, they argued that the residents were Afghan refugees. If that were the case, it would have been wise to move them to some refugee camp or back to Afghanistan. It turned out that those evicted were our own Pashtuns. The next argument was that the settlement was harbouring terrorism. For one, no authentic proof has been given linking the settlers to any terrorist activity. In that case however, it would have made more sense to operate against terrorists confined in one place, rather than dispersing them. And thirdly, do we not have Lal Masjid, which launched an all-out war on the state, and foreigners, in the same Islamabad, only a kilometre or so away from the diplomatic enclave. Needless to say, this foreigner war is being taken over by the great Nisar Ali Khan in the true spirit of Lal Masjid. Then it was said that the CDA had allotted plots to many people in the sector and the occupants were encroaching on the original buyers’ rights. We have not seen many claimants of I-11 plots and the few that are could have been accommodated in other sectors for comparable property (something development authorities, both civil and military, do this). And even if the CDA had to develop I-11 fully, what stopped it from offering alternative shelter to the 15,000 residents of the slums? For a city of over 1.5 million people, how many low income localities has the CDA ever planned? And how can a modern city survive without any such planned settlements. An alternative to this ineptness and a lesser embarrassing way out would have been on the grounds of compassion.
This brutal eviction is not where the horror of this incident ends. It is the collective silence that made it the most terrifying. Taking pride in televising the journey of 60 odd people 24/7 on the entire length of the GT road as a major event, the ‘independent and free’ electronic media was virtually silent about the event. Once the operation was over, some pieces appeared in English dailies and even more rarely in the Urdu ones and that is about it. But the horror does not end here. There used to be a political party in Pakistan, named the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which would come forward and fight for the marginalised in any such event. It seems that the party has forgotten how to fight for causes ever since the corpse of Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest in the soil of Garhi. Yes, Senator Sherry Rehman did raise the issue in Parliament but not all issues can be taken up in Parliament alone. There is virtue in street politics, particularly for the causes of marginalised and not all street politics and resistance are acts against democracy. This is what the PPP used to do and this is how it provided hope for millions. What the PPP, with its size and national outreach, can do for the marginalised, the Awawi Workers Party or Awami National Party cannot. And so this horror story ends with no one there to raise a voice for the poor.
Now let us take a deep breath and look at the world around us. The United States of America has a poverty rate of 17 percent, and yet poverty never makes it as a core issue of any US election. Even in the west, income and opportunity inequality are no longer the issues and same sex marriage, immigration and xenophobia define the main public discourse. Even here, the key issues remain western hegemony, religion and its interpretations, debating and defining patriotism and snap events, like Rehman Malik’s neighbour getting constipated and how it was Mr Malik’s fault. If you doubt what I just wrote, sit in front of any of the six dozen news channels that blabber on 24/7. In this process, we are leaving the poor and marginalised behind. Maybe someone is doing this by design; or maybe, we just do not want to look at that ugly yet essential side of life. Whatever the case may be, we are in an age of human civilisation in which we are capable of creating totally different species amongst humans. Those with access to better food, healthcare, and ultimately genetic treatments could transform into super-humans and the remaining will remain where they are. The downtrodden, poor and ready to serve will continue to die of viruses, bacteria and pollution. This is a very gloomy picture and I have always considered it far from reality till I saw our response to I-11. So if this thought of superiority multiplied by technology and lifestyle gives you a soothing feeling in your brain, I would only refer to another scientific rationale: their numbers and law of precedence suggest you should be ready to rot in the hell raised by those ever-marginalised. Deal with inequality or be ready to be dealt with.

The author can be reached on twitter at @aalimalik