Islamabad, the Not-So-Good
Originally written in 2007, it has been lauded a bit recently.
Earlier, I had mentioned that there were certain things “self-respecting” Pakistanis won’t do. Two of those were riding a bicycle and carrying anything heavier than a briefcase. There is one more: A Pakistani motorist would not slow down, let alone stop, to allow a pedestrian to cross the road peacefully. Instead, they would speed up, honk, and flash the headlights to make the pedestrians run for their lives — literally — or scurry back to safety. Even the cars turning from a side street would barrel down at the pedestrians to make them run or retreat.
It is ironic that, on the one hand, we take so much pride in our cultural values of lihaaz and pehlay aap (courtesy and ‘you first’ ) and even flaunt these values, but the moment we get inside a car, we toss them out of the window just as we routinely toss out candy wrappers and other trash. It’s not easy to explain this change of behavior.
But, come to think of it, many of the crosswalks in Islamabad end up nowhere, anyway; some against a high road divider and others in a ditch. Yes, in a ditch; I’m not exaggerating. Therefore, even if you escape the speeding car, you might end up tripping over the divider or, worse, in a ditch.
A supplement in the last Sunday’s The Daily Times, titled “Destination Pakistan 2007”, boasts:
“The master plan of this most modern city was prepared in 1960. Islamabad is one of the few planned cities in the world… It is a modern and carefully planned city, with tree-lined streets, large houses, elegant public buildings, and well-organized bazaars.”
Yes, Islamabad has tree-lined streets and large houses—very large, in fact. However, this “most modern” and “one of the few planned cities of the world” does not have adequate sidewalks for people to walk safely.
You cannot see or appreciate a city by reading about it in newspaper supplements. To take in a city's sights, sounds, and smells, you have to be able to walk around without the fear of tripping over, falling in a ditch — or being run over.
The few sidewalks in the “prestigious” E and F sectors are often blocked by cars parked or construction materials dumped on them. As if this was not bad enough, WAPDA’s transformers, sitting on some of the sidewalks, force the pedestrians onto the street, again with cars honking at them. With all those hurdles to jump over or circumvent, one has to be a kangaroo to move around and appreciate “one of the few planned cities in the world.” Obviously, the Greek planners did not factor in the Administration’s neglect, the citizens’ habits, and Wapda’s ingenuity.
Barring the risk a pedestrian has to endure while walking or crossing a road, Islamabad is mostly a clean city by Pakistani standards. Its streets are regularly swept; its drains and sewers rarely overflow; and house trash is dutifully picked up and deposited in the garbage bins, which are emptied by garbage trucks regularly.
And who does all this “dirty work”? An army of sanitary staff, men and women clad in orange-colored jackets, employed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to keep the city clean. Theirs is one of the most arduous jobs.
When you think of it, Islamabad would not know the difference if some government offices were closed for a week during Eid and other holidays. But if the sanitary workers stop working for a week, the city will become a garbage dump. Despite that, they are the lowest paid and are the most discriminated against among City employees. They live in squalor in the worst slums in the middle of two ‘prestigious’ sectors (F-6 and F-7). Their houses consist of shanties without adequate drainage or dependable water, power, and gas supply. The Admin has tried to hide these slums by building a high wall around them just to mask the blemish on the City’s face.
One wonders, why can’t the City that spends billions of rupees on widening the roads, building public buildings and government housing, playgrounds, parks, and expensive monuments (some of them wasteful) can’t provide low-cost housing to these employees? Something along the lines of ‘Project Housing’ in Singapore or other cities of the world.
Another aspect of Islamabad that sets it apart from any other city in the country is its predictable pollen allergy in the two beautiful months of spring — March and April. Some vulnerable residents leave the city to avoid the allergy in those months. Paper mulberry, an invasive weed that grows like a tree, is believed to be the main culprit. It’s a fast-growing tree planted in the early days of Islamabad, it is said, by sprinkling the seed from the air to make the city green fast. The forest department then made a very bad decision. The tree needs to be replaced by native trees like Kachnar, Amaltas, etc.
Another difficult thing to comprehend is that the CDA spends millions of rupees annually to develop parks and build walkways in them, fix curbstones along the roads, and paint them traffic yellow, but then a few bikers just remove the curbstones and drive through the parks and walkways, destroying everything, either for fun or to save a little distance. And no one seems to take notice of it.
Lastly, pray that you don’t have to deal with the CDA for municipal work on your house. Here’s my experience:
Recently, I went to what is called a One-Window Operation to pay my taxes for the farmhouse. There were several lines of people in front of different windows for different categories of people. The line for senior citizens looked almost empty. I entered that. When I approached the window, the window was closed, with a hand-scrawled sign announcing: وقفہ براۓ نماز
It was 11: 00 AM!
I then joined another line to wait my turn. When it came, I told the person behind the counter why I was there.
“Please write an application,” he said.
“Application for what? I’m not asking for money. I am paying.” I told him.
“Well, these are the rules; you have to write an application,” was the answer.
The clerk was kind enough to lend me a paper and pen and even help me write the application with the necessary endings, “Yours obediently.”
