AN ETHNOGRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF THE SLUMS OF ISLAMABAD

Introduction:

Throughout the world urban populations have been increasing steadily and with them have
increased the population of slum dwellers. According to the UNs report World Urbanization
Prospects (2014) 54% of the worlds population are living in urban areas while, according to
UN-HABITAT, 863 million people, or 33% of the worlds population, are living in slums
(2012 figures). The connection between urbanisation and slums is a tenuous one but it can be
maintained on the fact that with urbanisation comes rural to urban migration, which leads to
housing crises and which, finally, leads to slum formation. The term slum itself has multiple
definitions which adds to the confusion. Should slums be defined, as they commonly are, with
reference to squalor or can we come up with better benchmarks? Slums are defined by UN-
HABITAT as, an area with inadequate access to safe water, inadequate access to sanitation and
infrastructure, poor structural quality of housing and overcrowding and insecure residential
status and this is the definition we will be using throughout. Another key aspect in defining a
slum is that it is integrated in the informal economy.

Why do slums emerge? We have already traced a connection between the formation of slums
and urbanisation1. Davis (2007) maintains that slums are formed because contemporary,
capitalist urbanisation is disconnected from economic growth. Another reason is a lack of
government planning, bad urban governance and adequate and affordable housing. Still,
another reason is social segregation and exclusion which pushes a certain group into slums.
Migrations caused by internal conflicts or natural disasters have also been shown to create
slums (Jadoon, 2006).

Pakistans population growth rate is estimated at 2.1% Around 39% of Pakistans population
lives in urban areas2 (World Bank, 2015 figures) while its urban population growth rate is 2.8%
(UNdata, 2015) Approximately 46% of Pakistans urban population is residing in slums (World
Bank, 2014 figures).It is obvious, from the figures, that Pakistan has a sizable amount of slums
and these are mostly concentrated in its urban areas. According to the Katchi Abadis Policy

1
It is commonly assumed that slums are a temporary by-product of development which will go away with
time. However, such thinking is erroneous as it has been demonstrated that slums are formed, mostly,
because cities cannot absorb migrant populations. It is precisely because of thinking such as this that market
based solutions are touted to solve the problem of slums
2
This, however, should be taken with a grain of salt as the term urban is a contested one and has changed
with time.
(1985), as cited in Jadoon (2006), there were 2242 such katchi abadis throughout the country;
a number which must have now increased exponentially. At present Pakistan faces a housing
backlog of 9 million units. (Aamir, Jabeen & Sheng, 2015)

Islamabad, the capital of the country is no different. According to reports by the Capital
Development Authority (CDA)3, as cited in Shah (2016) there are at least 52 slums or katchi
abadis in the city with a population exceeding 100,000 individuals. The CDA only recognises
10 of these slums. The Express Tribune also quotes a CDA report (2014) which shows a
somewhat similar situation. This report claims that there are at least 24 katchi abadis in urban
and rural areas of the city, with 13,521 families consisting of 84,591 individuals. 21 of these
are located in urban areas while the remaining are located in the outskirts of Islamabad. Shah
(2016) reports that 35% of the population is composed of Punjabi Christians, other groups from
Punjab and Potohar comprise 26% of the population, Pakhtuns are around 20% and 10% is
composed of Kashmiris and Hazaras. The slums of Islamabad, now, also contain a significant
amount of Afghan migrants. While most of the population is composed of sanitary staff,
loaders, labourers etc. many slums also house professional beggars.

The history of slums in Islamabad can be traced to when the capital was being constructed in
the 1960s. The construction of the city provided jobs to millions of workers with Christians
being the largest group migrating to the new capital. For the Christians this was a way to escape
both their poverty as well as resistance towards their religion. Two of the biggest labour camps
around that time were located in G-8/3 and Muslim Colony near Bari Imam. After the
completion of the initial development projects the CDA started to evict these populations; an
action against which there was serious resistance. CDA has since then tolerated the existence
of several such slums throughout the city. (Shah, 2016; Akhtar, 2012)

Slum populations face severe problems which include economic problems such as tenure
insecurity and lack of meaningful and steady jobs, problems concerning health with abysmal
conditions of health and sanitation, social, cultural and religious issues which include but are
not limited to social exclusion, segregation and discrimination, and most importantly, the
problem of government neglect and inadequate policies. It should be kept in mind that none of
these problems exist in isolation and not only are they all connected to one another; they
influence each other as well.

3
While the statistics given by the CDA are quoted in different reports and publications the actual CDA report,
itself, is unavailable.
 Inadequate and
unaffordable
housing
Low
Tenure
government
insecurity
priority

Problems
of Slum
Poor
Social Dwellers WASH
exclusion conditions

Low steady
Educational
employment
oppurtunities. deprivation

Slums are also areas which are highly problematic for governments. For one they are areas of
extreme poverty located within, what are otherwise, highly developed areas. Slums, because
of their destitution, are fertile breeding grounds for crime. Within Islamabad, according to the
CDA report (2014), 674 police cases have been tied to people who live in slums with most of
the crimes centred around drug usage and liquor sales. 256 criminal cases have been
registered against the residents of the Mera Jaffar slum. Slums also cause logistical issues
especially when the transportation of state guests and VIPs is involved. Slums have also been
linked to issues of pollution and environmental degradation. Slums are also sources of
contagious diseases.

Objective of the study:

The research will have the following objectives:

A holistic understanding of the slums of Islamabad

 To enhance cooperation between academia and the development sector in research and
development.
Rationale:

The increasing population of slum dwellers in Islamabad has created many problems for both
the inhabitants and the government. This community is among the most marginalized
communities of the capital city. Furthermore, poverty not only breeds more poverty but also
violence. The increasing crime rate and socio-economic problems of this particular population
needs special attention from the government, the development sector as well as the academia.
These three spheres have been working in isolation for far too long and it usually seems as if
they are speaking over one another. One of the rationales of this study is, precisely, to foster
this kind of collaboration. We believe this study of ours will be the first of its kind. So far no
research of this nature have been conducted in the slums of Islamabad and no valid data is
available. This research will not only be a pioneering study but will also be the only one that
takes a holistic approach and which will cover all possible aspects of life in the slums. The data
collected from this research will be utilised as baseline data for further researches and the
findings of the research will be helpful for the government in policy formation.

Research Strategies and Methodology

Mixed research methodology will be employed to conduct the research with focus on
qualitative approach. The study will be a holistic study on slum dwellers covering all the slums
of Islamabad. The development of tools for data collection and sample size will be determined
at a later stage with the consultation of Plan International Pakistan. The data collection will be
done during the months of May and June, 2017. The team will be comprised of students of
Quaid-i-Azam University under the supervision of Dr. Waheed Chaudhry and Mr. Waheed
Yousuf. The field team will be provide a one-day training to all the researchers. Data analysis
will be done by using different software (SPSS, ANOVA) and through thematic analysis. Plan
International Pakistan shall provide necessary facilitation for the conduction of the research
including transportation.
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