By Hafiz ullah Storai Sherani
A high-stakes mapping study presented at the National Press Club has ignited a debate over the federal capital’s housing policy, claiming that nearly a fifth of the city’s population lives in informal settlements ignored by the state for decades.
The study, released during the ‘Haq-i-Rehaish’ (Right to Housing) Conference, arrives as the latest 7th Digital Census 2023 confirms Islamabad’s total population has surged to 2,363,863.
Activists argue that while the city has grown rapidly, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is operating on obsolete data that effectively “erases” hundreds of thousands of working-class citizens from the official map.
The Awami Workers Party (AWP), which spearheaded the study, argues that the CDA’s reliance on a 2001 survey has created a massive administrative vacuum.
The 19% Claim
While the city’s population stands at 2.36 million, the AWP claims approximately 448,000 people reside in katchi abadis.
The report alleges the CDA’s Katchi Abadi Cell has failed to release a completed survey in 30 years, preventing the regularization of these settlements.
Currently, the CDA recognizes only 10 settlements. Based on the 2023 census benchmarks, this leaves an estimated 343,000 residents without legal status or protection against summary evictions.
Due to the lack of low-income housing, the population in these informal areas has reportedly increased 14-fold since the mid-1990s.
Shagufta, a resident of the G-7 Allama Iqbal Colony, described a life of constant vigilance.
“They should tell us where to go,” she said. “When we set food down to eat, our children say the CDA has arrived; our food is left untouched while we just stare at the walls. We have young children and grown daughters—where do we take them?”
Mehtab Ahmed Qureshi , head of the Ittehad Muslim Colony Movement, pointed to decades of broken promises. He noted that while a 2001 survey identified 1,680 houses in Muslim Colony, only 400 people were issued forms, and only 200 received plots. “Hundreds of families were simply excluded from the record entirely,” Qureshi stated.
Meanwhile the CDA maintains a firm stance that only the 10 settlements identified in its 2001 survey are legal, classifying all others as “encroachments.” CDA Spokesperson Shahid Kiani was contacted for a response to the AWP’s findings; however, no statement was provided by the time of publication.
This friction follows a recent Islamabad High Court authorization allowing the CDA to clear encroachments in Syedpur Village and surrounding areas to restore the city’s original master plan under a “model city” vision.
AWP leader Dr. Aasim Sajjad Akhtar countered this vision, stating that Islamabad is increasingly governed by unaccountable bureaucrats who prioritize high-value real estate for the elite over the rights of the laborers who built the city.
Conference participants and civil society members concluded the event by issuing a formal set of demands to the government:
Immediate Moratorium: An end to all ongoing demolition drives in informal settlements.
Ownership Rights
The granting of malikana huqooq (ownership rights) to long-term residents under constitutional housing protections.
Standardized Resettlement
Fair compensation and nearby resettlement if displacement is unavoidable for public development.
Administrative Accountability
Legal action against officials who bypass the 2015 Supreme Court stay order on summary evictions.