CREDIBLE and affordable housing projects, providing quality residential facilities is vital for any metropolitan city like Karachi, Lahore etc. However, under no circumstances, other than insatiable greed, can anyone justify demolition of Walton Airport to build CBD or destroy thousands of acres of green agricultural pastures in the vicinity of Shahdara in Lahore which effectively creates obstruction in the flow of water path to Ravi. Imagine the havoc that would be caused when India releases excess waters during seasonal flooding. An alternate airport (Walton) for emergency services was more essential for a city like Lahore, than CBD.
Responsibility for oversight and regulatory control lies with Provincial/Federal and City Governments that citizens get a fair deal and their lifelong savings are not gobbled by greedy and unethical practices of a few. Citizens of Lahore are denied even pure air to breathe because of the environmental disaster created by mushrooming of housing societies, brick kilns and chopping of trees and green pastures, around its periphery. Elected governments and departments, funded by taxpayers exist, must perform regulatory functions instead of being involved in commercial housing schemes for exclusive benefit of paid elite and a powerful few. Welfare of citizens must take precedence over benefits of paid elite. This criminal negligence creates mistrust between people and government agencies, when such societies deprive citizens of their lifelong savings, such as Dha Valley. Nothing can be more detrimental.
Edmund Burke stated in 1775, “It is the love of the people, it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in this glorious institution—” The whole edifice of the State is based on trust, rule of law and the Constitution. Primary constitutional obligation of a government is to protect lives and private properties of citizens, including their basic rights like education, clean drinking water, health and most importantly justice for all, without any fear or favour.
It goes to credit of CJP Qazi Faez Isa, who ordered owners of Nasla Towers on 26 April 2024 to sell the plot and give compensation to 44 victims. He issued similar notices to Tejori Heights, constructed on land belonging to Pakistan Railways. What happened to the hapless occupants of Nasla Tower in Karachi was in sharp contrast to the fate of graver irregularities in Constitution One Avenue Islamabad project, where beneficiaries were powerful members of ruling elite, across the political divide, including paid elite and a few within judiciary. They benefitted on considerations of Third-Party Interests, which grounds were not considered by former CJP Gulzar for residents of Nasla Tower. Were they “children of lesser gods”? The former CJP, who was in haste, ordering demolition two years ago, abandoned this country, post-retirement, to live in a foreign country, which seems to have become favorite choice of our elite. It is unethical and immoral for powerful members of paid elite, who having benefitted most from vast opportunities and perks, then choose to abandon it, yet get their pensions in foreign exchange, despite economic crisis and scarcity of FOREX. Hundreds of thousands of citizens who do not have a house to live in, are not considered eligible for a subsidized plot of land in Islamic Republic, whilst paid elite are beneficiaries of multiple residential and commercial plots, to be sold for commercial profits.
The misuse of real estate in Pakistan starkly contrasts with the Quaid’s vision of a democratic welfare state. The demolition of Nasla Tower in Karachi, despite clear irregularities in its approval by the SBCA, underscores systemic corruption, with officials evading accountability. Similar issues plague projects like Tejori Heights and the allocation of land to Bahria in Sindh. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s efforts to address these injustices highlight the judiciary’s potential, but he faces resistance. Moreover, some judiciary members compromise their integrity for personal gains, exemplified by a former Chief Justice favouring a Land Mafia Don’s illegal takeovers, including in the Malir Development Authority (MDA) and DHA Valley. These failures severely damage the credibility of those in power, turning the elite from public servants into self-serving masters, and eroding public trust in the government.
Ardeshir Cowasjee launched a one-man movement against such gross irregularities. He wrote several columns, when an amenity plot known as Kidney Hills, was illegally occupied by individuals, one of whom was an employee of a state-owned corporation PIA, under administrative control of MOD. They functioned under banner of Overseas Housing Society. None of key functionaries of OHS had ever been employed overseas, yet they managed to swindle many, with the help of powerful politicians. No political party, however, popular it maybe, has moral or legal authority to appoint individuals involved in serious irregularities, as heads of state corporations like PIA. Electoral popularity cannot absolve anyone or give immunity for criminal acts. Such an individual was appointed at helm of PIA, despite numerous columns written by men of conscience like Ardeshir Cowasjee. Irresponsible statement by a former Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar and the choice of team to head PIA proved to be the last nail.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Lahore.
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