NOT that long ago, Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan¡ was known for its trees and tranquillity. Its inhabitants often stereotyped as boring and the city declared dead by 9 pm by those visiting from the hustle bustle of Karachi and Lahore. This was the 2000s. By the turn of the last two decades, the city presents an image nothing like what is described above. Over the past five years, the city is increasingly the site of road and real estate construction – left, right and centre.
A few weeks ago, at a distance sitting at home in Islamabad, I penned an article within the pages of this paper titled “I can’t breathe”. The article was one for Lahore and its smog. Not much later, now, when my beloved city became a victim of blinding smog and deteriorating air quality, I wonder if I spoke too soon on behalf of another city when the attention should have been on the concrete jungle i.e. Islamabad, surrounding me.
Islamabad, as I’m not sure if I can still refer to it as ‘Islamabad – The Beautiful’ has expanded at exponential rates. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has, over the last few years, made billions from land auctions while bulldozing historic villages, the city’s green belt(s), and the living and breathing katchi abadis (urban slums). Gated housing schemes run the stretch of all areas on the outskirts of the city. As a result, this January coupled a lull in rainfall with the invisibility of the Margalla Hills – a low-hanging and thick cloud of smog has engulfed Islamabad while the city cuts tree after tree, puts up building after building and develops the most intricate fly overs, all under a sleepy administration.
Over the last two decades, and specifically the last one, the population of the city has more than tripled. The majority of those who have migrated into the capital are young and working class hoping for better opportunities and a better life. For them, I wonder if life has gotten any better. A city that lacks adequate public transportation, affordable housing, healthcare, education and now even clean air, is a city at the mercy of property developers, big contractors and a seemingly unaware administration permitting to build (read: destroy) all in the name of development.
In simpler words, it seems as if the environment is not a concern for Islamabad. What this excessiveness means for future generations is perhaps a worry for later. In all of this, more and more people will move to the city, more trees will be cut and more structures upheld. Administrations will come and go but the environmental damage is here to stay!
—The writer is Assistant Editor, daily Pakistan Observer, Islamabad.
Email: [email protected]
views expressed are writer’s own.
