The case against RUDA

Ever since Pakistan built its first planned city Islamabad, the country has not been able to build any other planned city despite myriad housing projects all across the nation. Bold actions may run into bulwarks, but what’s stopping us from bold thinking?

The Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project (RRUDP) by the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) was recently declared illegal by the Lahore High Court. The court declared Section 4 of the RUDA Act 2020 to be in contravention of the Article 140-A of the Constitution of Pakistan. The legality of forceful acquisition of agricultural land for commercial purposes is the dispute here, meaning, it is a violation of an ancient and obscure law called the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. People may invoke the divide and rule and other such vicious actions of the British to register their hatred but they surely love to cite the laws the British left behind whenever it suits them.

However, the dispute over lands goes well before 1894. Ever since the Agricultural Revolution, which also was the dawn of civilization, wars and diseases started emerging. The RUDA war is about the procedure of acquiring the lands. While the Supreme Court has stepped in to save the day and green-signaled the housing project, it is therapeutic to see some courage where people are not willing to trade rights for development. But there is more to this saga than what is actually understood.

Usually, the liberal culture in Pakistan is impatient to embrace the western values and culture in its unabated pursuit to be labeled intellectual and civilized. When it comes to climate change, however, a split personality emerges that likes to stick to a primitive mindset. Prime Minister Imran Khan is touting the development of the housing project with phrases such as clean air, better sewage, forestation, planned development, and so forth.

The problem is that the nation and the mindset that dwells here have a different yardstick in measuring the success of housing development. Television advertisements showing fake and non-existent housing projects have convinced people that good housing means 10% down payment with years to pay the rest for a house where the husband plays golf while the smiling wife looks on. Ironically, these are advertised as low income housing projects and the kids are always two; a boy and a girl and everybody is happy. A bolder housing society has electricity at all times, generated by a carbon emitting generator.

Imran Khan talks about climate change and the threat to survival of humanity from an ever-heating planet. He is touting the development of a new city containing a forest and a system that will prevent the river water from contamination. The Prime Minister knows that clean water and clean air are going to be the luxuries of life not everyone would be able to afford in the not so distant future. In a nutshell, PM Khan is advocating for a city built suited to the challenges of climate change. Alas, it really is an alien language.

The nation has been force-fed with phrases such as free journalism, democratic principles, and equal rights. That has at least allowed people to think that having a ballot means living in a democracy. Before the nation is told about the benefits of trees, clean air, clean water, and the prevention of city clogging, the nation must be force-fed science. The broadcast of political talk shows have created a toxic environment rivaling the Twitter-verse. Science shows are yet to become the norm where astronomy, climate change, and human evolution are some of the most discussed topics.

The Prime Minister is speaking a language that would only be understood in a science driven culture. Pakistanis still believe that Einstein is promoted around the world because he was Jewish. One can place a safe bet that none of those whining lesser mortals have any idea what Einstein’s Special and General Theories of Relativity actually say. When the case against the RUDA was presented in the Lahore High Court, one of the points raised by the opposition was that the Environmental Impact Assessment report was made by a consultant who was unregistered. For the record, the last time people witnessed a “registered” consultant for advising the PM on economic affairs, it did not go well and he had to be cut loose on account of his religious affiliation.

Acquiring land in a manner that defies the law and people’s rights, even for the greater good, is bad enough but what is worse is having no right to breathe fresh air, drink clean water, and living life in a temperature limit barely fit for survival.

The writer is a commentator on climate change and international politics.