16/04/2026
When the most vulnerable are pushed to the margins, the law is tested—not in theory, but in practice.
The recent calls by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and allied groups in Islamabad are not just about katchi abadis—they are about the soul of constitutional governance. The 2015 stay order of the Supreme Court was not symbolic; it was a clear assertion that dignity, shelter, and due process are not privileges, but rights.
Yet, ongoing demolitions by the Capital Development Authority raise serious questions: Can development justify displacement without rehabilitation? Can the state overlook its own constitutional commitments under Article 9?
Erasing settlements like Saidpur Village, Malpur, and Nurpur Shahan without viable alternatives is not urban planning—it is exclusion.
A city is not defined by its infrastructure alone, but by how it treats those who build it, sustain it, and live unseen within it.
If the right to housing is ignored, then the promise of justice becomes selective.
