CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Malik, Sana Shahid |
|---|---|
| Title | The "unplanned" Islamabad: State and evictions in the I-11 sector |
| Summary | This doesn’t look like Pakistan, it looks just like a foreign country”, my mother remarked, as we drove into the city of Islamabad on our way from Lahore. In fact, it is this “foreign-ness” which often motivates my family and I to visit it for leisure; this is entailed by the capital city’s western-centric modernity, its clean, green and serene spaces occupied by 2 million people, which usually makes driving in its wide roads hassle-free. Its status as a Master-Planned city reflects in the symmetrically organized residential and commercial areas, as well as sectoral divisions. Furthermore, recent developments, from the F-11 entertainment Park, to world-class shopping malls, Metrobus services, and overhead bridge constructions, add to what its administrative body refers to as is ‘Islamabad the Beautiful’. This body is the state-run Capital Development Authority (CDA) - the major force which continues to implement Islamabad’s Master-Plan of 1960. And yet, overtime, several slums and katchi abadis (informal settlements) have flourished in the city - an aspect antithetical to this plan. As such, there has been a surge from around 13, 000 inhabitants of such settlements in mid-1980s, to 50, 000 in 2013, and an increase to 80, 000 the following year. Even though they are home to essential service providers as cleaners, cooks, drivers or fruit vendors (cite), the sites are often scene as tarnishing the city’s beauty and/or land-value. One of CDA’s strategies to tackle this “issue” is to evict and demolish these settlements; in July 2015, one such attempts in Islamabad’s I-11 sector was met by opposition from the socialist Awami Workers’ Party (AWP). In fact, this is the first time an eviction-drive has made its way to the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan, whereby the case has been underway since then. Among other claims raised, the AWP has challenged CDA’s discourse of ‘justifying’ its operation against the “illegal settlements”. That this 40-year-old basti (settlement) could eventually not be rescued raises questions for the course Islamabad’s urban trajectory, given the ‘turn’ in its politics due to AWP’s opposition. In particular, how do we explain the development of this “unofficial Islamabad” in one of the most planned cities of South Asia? Further, what do the political dynamics evolving the I-11 evictions, tell us about the course of urban governance in Islamabad? |
| Supervisor | Bodnár, Judit; Kumar Rajaram, Prem |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/malik_sana.pdf |
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