We are writing to bring your urgent attention to a critical human rights crisis currently unfolding in Islamabad. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has issued a 72-hour eviction notice to low-income workers in Christian settlements in Islamabad, threatening the immediate demolition of their homes to make way for a new roadway. This planned action puts over 3,000 Christian families at risk of becoming internally displaced. These residents, many of whom serve as the city’s essential sanitation and domestic workers, have lived in some of these slum settlements for decades.
These orders particularly affect the highly populated low income Chrisian families Rimsha Colony of Sector H-9. This vulnerable community was founded in 2012 by Christians escaping violence related to false blasphemy allegations, Christian houses were relocated on H-8 Rimsha colony by the government and CDA officials.
In August 2012, Rimsha, a 13-year-old girl with Down’s syndrome, was arrested for blasphemy, and cleared of charges in November 2012. The false accusation was fabricated in an attempt to take over her family’s property, and her acquittal led to death threats. Hundreds of Christian families fled the ensuing violence. The CDA allocated an undeveloped plot of land in Islamabad’s H-9/2 area to provide these families with a place to rebuild their lives. Families cleared land, built mud huts, and later more permanent structures, which became Rimsha Colony. They still live without basic amenities like power, and have had to dig their own sewage systems. Now the CDA plan demolishing the area.
This move by the CDA not only ignores a 2012 Supreme Court ruling protecting these residents from evacuation but also highlights a systemic pattern of marginalization against Pakistan’s Christian minority. Most of these families are employed by the CDA itself, maintaining landscaping and sanitation through contract labour, amounting to lower than minimum wage. The Christian community is currently in a state of extreme trauma, with families gathered in local churches to pray and organize protests while facing the imminent threat of bulldozers.
The former assassinated Prime Minister of Pakistan and the leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, issued a notification in 1994 to provide housing ownership to the 10 Christian localities in Islamabad. May we request to you that her orders may be honoured. The PPP, enjoys a positive name in providing Minority Rights, to the Christians, Sikh and Hindu communities in Pakistan.
The Pakistan’s International human rights communities, including protections against forced evictions. The supreme court has on multiple occasions, affirmed that state authorities must act within the bounds of law, ensure procedural fairness and protect the right of marginalized groups. The current situation appears to violate these principles and risks deepening the social ad religious vulnerabilities already faced by minority communities.
The Constitution of Pakistan guarantee’s the following.
- Article 9 of the Constitution (security of person)
- Article 14 (inviolability of dignity and privacy of home)
- Article 25 (equality of Citizens)
We are highlighting the CDA’s failure to implement the Islamabad Master Plan, which originally designated land in each sector for low-income housing. The situation is dire, with a desperate need for sustainable, low-income housing solutions for these persecuted and marginalized communities.
Thousands of Christians Pray and March in Islamabad, seeking help, asking Pakistani authorities to halt their decision to Bulldoze Chrisian locality. Claiming they will have nowhere to go, this action will lead them to become homeless. The residents have meagre finances to meet their daily life. There is incident reported that two mothers were fainted, taking trauma and anxiety due to this situation.
We are calling on the higher Pakistani Authorities to halt this action against destitute persecuted Christians.
Thank you for your immediate attention to this grave matter.
