The Monster Within

FEBRUARY 1997 - The felling of another grotesque plaza in the heart of old Lahore on the orders of the Punjab CM has sent a wave of delight and hope to all of us who have watched in frustration as one illegal after another illegal ugly monster has risen into the skies of this once lovely city. If this amazingly swift and decisive action is a sign of what's to follow, can we all start heaving collective sighs of relief that at last, executive actions of the right type are about to be launched? One sincerely hopes so.

Though one writes primarily on Lahore, it is not confined to that one city. Indeed across the land, unscrupulous investors, corrupt officials and indifferent governments have allowed the rape our towns and cities, as one ugly building after another has blighted our urban landscape, caused an avalanche of problems for commuters and pedestrians and further added to the mounting miseries of our cities and the people who live in them. Virtually not a single public building has followed laid down rules and procedures. Instead every rule and regulation has been twisted, bent and adulterated to enable the looters to squeeze every last drop of profit from their enterprises.

Those who float about in Lahore's mixed-up and tacky social settings, passing off as successful, innovative and progressive developers are in fact common manipulators and petty thieves. Only the stakes are high, but the principles of greed and avarice are as base so they can be. As citizens have watched in growing disbelief at the colossal sums of money earned by investors in these projects, they have wondered endlessly when someone will rescue the city from further ruination. From time to time, there have been 'drives' but the roars have inevitably turned to whimpers and such is the power of money and influence that each scheme has been doomed even before it began. Thus the history of encroachments and illegal construction has had a glorious past.

But the disease is not only confined to the big tycoons. Encroachment has become a way of life and whoever can wangle it, simply does so. Car showrooms, run by the almighty powerful Mafia of wheelers and dealers have played havoc with the city laws yet there has been no one sting enough and determined enough to take them on. Avenues and boulevards over 100 feet wide have been reduced to streets where two scooters have a problem crossing each other. At night when the petty traders have gone home, the shutters pulled down and the hundreds of vehicles packed inside like metal sardines, the amazing view of broad roads and wide open spaces is available for anyone to see and fully comprehend the extent of the encroachment that is a daily fixture of life in any Pakistani city big or small.

From the city's main roads, it is only a small distance to the side streets where another novel variety of encroachments is in full display all day long. If your neighbourhood streets have not yet been invaded by an unending series of auto workshops, it will soon be. It is now certain that most of this country's urban population is to be found working and running auto workshops. These invariably spill over into the streets blocking traffic spreading filth and adding to the further degeneration of the city's landscape, its cleanliness and the well being of its people. If it’s not workshops, there are the infernal schools. There are hundreds of schools and they are everywhere. Any house large enough to hold a family of four is good enough to accommodate five hundred children. They in turn cause a complete blockage of traffic most of the day and some with one car per student cause a total breakdown of all mobility in the area. Vendors, sellers and other petty tradesmen add to the already chaotic situation. In our street, a barber shop, a brick and tattered awning affair, has been razed to the ground several times only to rise up miraculously within hours of its demise. It is obviously indestructible and impossible to be contained.

The fact is that encroaching is now very much a way of life and it is not confined only to the plaza builders or the workshop entrepreneurs. It starts from all the way down and goes all the way up - or the other way. It doesn't matter - the result is still the same. Behind every Pakistani there is an encroacher struggling to get out, and succeeding with amazing (and depressing) regularity. At the end of the day, all good executive intentions notwithstanding, one is up against the Paki psyche of grabbing what is not theirs. It seems to be at the very core of whatever we do and is hopelessly ingrained in our very souls. What power other than divine providence will drive us to abstain from this detestable trait and learn to respect the rights of others ? Mian Shahbaz has taken on a monster that is virtually indestructible. He has his task cut out for him. The question is, will he beat the monster ? And what about other Chief Ministers and other provinces and other cities and other towns ? Will we now close our ranks against the common enemy and at last learn to live within the law ? Certainly the answers are in the negative but we should know soon.