ISLAMABAD: Ayesha Khursheed is just 10-year-old but has big worries. Her world of school and friends crumbled on July 30, crushed by the bulldozers which flattened the I-11 katchi abadi of Islamabad on that day.

She symbolises the worries of some 10,000 slum dwellers uprooted by the Capital Development Authority’s campaign to clear the city of ‘illegal’ slum communities.

“It was a bad day for all of us when they destroyed our houses. I will not be able to rejoin my school in Dhoke Hassu after the summer vacations,” she said, sadly for her family has moved to far away Tarnol locality. The third grader now sits doing her unfinished home work in the small house her father has rented in Ittefaq Colony near Tarnol.

But Ayesha longs for the teachers and friends she left in the Dhoke Hassu Government Girls High School in Rawalpindi. Her school was situated just a few hundred metres away from her destroyed mud house in the katchi abadi.

“I have lost all of them,” she said, moaning she has no friends in her new home.

That sentiment pervades among the families forcibly evicted from the I-11 katchi abadi. They now live unhappy lives scattered in different parts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Some migrant families from the disturbed Fata have returned to their native areas.

“A few dozen of the uprooted families, which could afford small rented houses, have taken up residence in Ittefaq Colony near Tarnol, Sarai Kharboza on the outskirts of Islamabad and Chakraa in Rawalpindi,” said Bilal Khan, an uncle of Ayesha. “We have no idea where the thousands of other displaced people went.”

Bilal had a regular job in I-11 Sabzi Mandi but is now jobless. His days are spent in search of daily-wage jobs. Still he did not sound too worried.

“No doubt, livelihood is a serious issue for us, but we can and are ready to do all sorts of hard labour anywhere. It is a matter of days that we will adjust to our new life,” he said with great confidence.

However, he is as worried about the education of the children in the family as his niece Ayesha.

“All my nieces and nephews were getting education in Dhoke Hassu school and a private school in Pirwadhai area,” he said.

“Now, we wonder where to put them as I learn there is no government-run school in this locality, and we can no more afford private schools. They (CDA) have played havoc with our lives and our children’s future,” he added.

According to Bilal, 300 children of the I-11 slum families were getting education either in government or some NGO-run schools.

“I have no idea about their fate but know dozens of children have become schoolless,” he said.

Bilal now encourages Ayesha and her siblings and cousins to continue their education at home.

“Meanwhile, family members are searching if any government school exists in this area,” he said.

Those who razed the ‘illegal slum’ had no plan at all for resettling the evicted families.

“After destroying our houses, they (the CDA) left us at the mercy of God. We are citizens of Pakistan, aren’t we? They didn’t care for our aged and our children. Wasn’t it their responsibility to help us in resettlement,” fumed evicted Fazal Shah who now lives in Ittefaq Colony.

Now the angry Shah is planning to contest the upcoming local bodies elections from I-11 on the ticket of Awami Workers Party.

“Hundreds of the uprooted people are still running from pillar to post to get a roof over their head,” he said.

“The Ittefaq Colony landlords raised their rents when they heard of our relocation here. Now, they demand Rs6,000 in rent of a two-room house, which most of the destroyed families cannot afford.”

Like so many others, 13-year-old Daud Khan is also upset over the demolition of their houses. His father is a vendor in Sabzi Mandi and he used to help him after attending school.

“I was born in I-11 slum, I have special affiliation with that area and I miss my lost friends and our lost life,” said Daud.

With its estimate 10,000 dwellers, the I-11 slum was one of the biggest in the federal capital. It was allowed to grow to that strength over three decades before being leveled on July 30.

CDA had a plan to clear all 42 ‘illegal’ slums from the federal capital. But the criticism that the bulldozing of the I-11 slum without any alternative plan for the evicted poor drew appears to have stayed the CDA from going after the other slums for the time being.

A few days back, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan stated that Islamabad administration and police will not assist in the job until the CDA took action against those of its officials who let slums grow in the city. He also ordered ‘immediate action’ against the alleged facilitators.

Insiders claim that a large number of officials of CDA are involved in this scam.

“This is injustice,” agreed a senior CDA officer. “First you let slums grow in exchange of graft and then when directed by high-ups you raze houses of the poor,” he said, disclosing that an inquiry committee has been formed, which will furnish its finding in 15 days.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2015

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