Using Cross-Class Politics to Challenge Urban Housing Inequality in Islamabad, Pakistan

Islamabad is touted as Pakistan’s loveliest city, with lush greenery and clean public spaces. The slogan “Islamabad the beautiful” is used by the municipal Capital Development Authority (CDA). Ironically, the forces at play in the creation of Islamabad were neocolonial; the city was designed for the nation’s privileged (Siddiqui 2023). From social engineering in residential areas to the ejection of original inhabitants, the spatiality of the city reflected the ideals of those who had power in forming it. These legacies continue to exist today, with the proliferation of informal settlements (known as katchi abadis, or abadis). This article investigates the cross-class solidarities that facilitate resistance to urban housing inequality in Islamabad. By introducing “overlapping politics” (Siddiqui 2024) as a critical form of political mobilization, I will demonstrate how existing understandings of class-based political practices are limited.

Context

In Islamabad, differences can be seen between planned elite areas and adjacent unplanned communities. Real-estate values have skyrocketed over the past few decades, and the local government enables the private development of exclusive spaces for the middle class at the expense of the poor (Mallick 2018). This has resulted in abadi eviction operations. This is the story of many cities in the region. However, Islamabad’s history as a master-planned capital means that interactions between the poor and wealthy are rare.

Within this sociospatially fragmented landscape has emerged a fascinating example of cross-class political mobilization. Typically, cross-class political engagement occurs through hierarchical clientelist connections which are heightened around elections. A culture of dependency is created whereby patrons use incentives to gain votes, and the poor rely on these to improve their living conditions.

By contrast, the Awami Workers Party (AWP) is a socialist party comprising members from both the urban middle class as well as the urban poor (including abadi residents). The AWP was formed in 2012 through a merger of three left-wing parties. Its competitors include the progressive Haqooq-e-Khalq Party and Mazdoor Kisan Party. The AWP operates at the provincial and federal levels and contests local-government and general elections, although electoral impact is negligible due to relatively little funding and an ideological stance against clientelism.

Abadis typically have makeshift housing, inadequate (or a lack of) infrastructure and public services, poor sanitation, no health and education facilities, and no property rights for residents (UNICEF 2020). Some 379,620 abadi residents live in the city (ibid.). This accounts for more than 37% of Islamabad’s population. Of 50-plus abadis, only 10 are recognized by the CDA (Iqbal 2015). These are officially legal, not under threat of eviction, and may be selected for on‑site upgrading.

Under the AWP umbrella, the two class groups collaborate to resist eviction and demolition threats, as well as to undertake projects that improve residents’ lives. During an eviction and demolition operation in 2015, the AWP blocked access into the settlement; shared stories on social media; held meetings to mobilize residents; created awareness about residents’ legal rights; negotiated with the CDA and police; and filed a petition to the Supreme Court about housing as a right. This politics is cultivated both by the organization itself and through membership of the party. Socialist ideologies bring together like-minded individuals, but the party provides a formal platform for these efforts.

Conceptual gaps and ‘overlapping politics’ as an intervention

The leading scholarly voices on urban politics create a binary between the politics undertaken by the rich versus the poor, or they do not consider the connections made between the two groups. For example, Chatterjee (2004) and Harriss (2006; 2007) assume that an individual’s class determines the kinds of politics they engage in. However, my research shows that political practices cannot be predefined by class; they are fluid and contextual. Moreover, scholars like Holston (2008) and Bayat (2000) stress the agency of the poor but do not recognize that they require assistance from more politically powerful and relatively more knowledgeable groups with different networks in order to get their claims heard.

The concept of “overlapping politics” addresses these conceptual limitations. It is defined as “the political relationship between two (or more) distinct socioeconomic classes of citizen(s) in response to any form of injustice or inequality” (Siddiqui 2024, p. 2). Class here is defined holistically, combining qualitative (lifestyle, aspirations, education, housing, occupation) and quantitative (income, household spending) indicators. This framework provides a rich understanding of urban politics involving multiple class groups. “Overlapping politics” highlights the roles played by members of different class groups as they work together to challenge urban issues. The political practices of different groups also “overlap” across four common modes which were observed over eight months of qualitative fieldwork in Islamabad.

The four modes of “overlapping politics”

The first mode of “overlapping” is knowledge and information. Abadi residents supply middle-class-identifying AWP members with details about their area and their experiences living in informal settlements. In return, abadi residents receive knowledge and information about news updates, housing policies, and upcoming evictions. This is possible because middle-class-identifying AWP members are well educated and stay up to date with recent happenings. The sharing of these details informs the ways that the AWP designs its interventions. Given that politics around housing security, infrastructure, and public services entails dealing with municipal organizations, the legal system, and federal-level bureaucracy, information sharing is necessary for the urban poor. Information determines their course(s) of action in precarious conditions. Knowledge exchange is both spontaneous (through regular conversation) and structured: the party hosts annual “political schools” for political education and public study circles drawing on academic and news articles covering topics including class struggles and hegemonic economic policies. Texts are shared in Urdu via WhatsApp. Abadi residents are invited to attend, although few do due to their jobs and travel costs.

The second mode of “overlapping” is through networks and membership. There is at least one middle-class-identifying AWP member assigned to every abadi that the AWP is active in; their role is to maintain regular contact with residents. Residents connect AWP members with their friends and families. AWP members mobilize their wide-ranging local and international networks in law, human rights, academia, and the media to draw attention to the struggles of abadi residents. Moreover, the membership of the AWP is cross-class, meaning that abadi residents can participate in discussions concerning the party. During elections, they are encouraged to run as candidates on the party platform. Particularly active residents are appointed as local party representatives and act as everyday liaisons between their fellow residents and middle-class-identifying AWP members.

The next mode is support. Abadi residents offer logistical support for events (setting up and publicizing meetings in the abadi, arranging for refreshments), vote for the party, and build a mass presence at sit‑ins and protests on main roads and outside municipal government headquarters. On the other hand, middle-class-identifying AWP members prioritize the urgent needs of abadi residents in the short term. This involves swiftly responding to crises like abrupt demolition operations or negotiating with public officials for amenities in abadis. Over a longer period, they seek to move beyond resistance tactics to develop a politics that is based on bottom‑up change propelled by abadi residents themselves.

Finally, “overlapping” occurs through stewardship and responsibility. As part of the AWP, both abadi residents and middle-class urbanites make financial, time-based, and/or labor-based contributions to develop private interventions in the absence of public amenities and services. For example, they cooperated to install a tube well in an abadi without piped water. Funding for installation was shared. In the same abadi, “overlapping politics” led to the creation of a community garden. Both groups cleaned up the area, added plants, and painted a mural featuring portraits of locals. They also established a community primary school which is registered and funded by AWP members and their networks and is staffed by abadi residents who have obtained teacher training through the party. “Overlapping politics” has improved access to basic services and created a deeper connection to the city for abadi residents.

Conclusion

Overall, the “overlapping politics” framework makes two important contributions. First, it reveals that political practices are not as closely tied to class membership as previous scholars note (Chatterjee 2004; Harriss 2006; 2007). This makes it a useful tool for capturing the various modes of practice that may exist within urban contexts where cross-class politics is emerging. Second, applying the “overlapping politics” concept underscores the significance of cross-class flows and contributions in addressing and resisting urban housing inequality. This is in contrast to scholars including Holston (2008) and Bayat (2000), who frame the poor as a self-reliant group, whereas in reality they create strategic, necessary connections across class lines with those who have different knowledge, networks, and resources.

Bibliography

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• Siddiqui, Hafsah. 2024. “Conceptualising Overlapping Politics: Cross-Class Political Relationships in Urban Pakistan”, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, May. DOI: 10.1177/23996544241255793.
• UNICEF. 2020. Report: Profile of Slums/Underserved Areas of Islamabad City – The Federal Capital of Pakistan, Islamabad: UNICEF Immunization Team Pakistan. Available online at the following URL: www.unicef.org/pakistan/media/2976/file/Profile%20of%20Underserved%20Areas%20of%20Islamabad%20City%20–%20The%20Federal%20Capital%20of%20Pakistan.pdf.

Further reading

• Siddiqui, Hafsah. 2022. “Beyond Class-Based Binaries in Political Mobilisation: A Case Study of Islamabad, Pakistan”, Beyond Binaries Conference Proceedings 2022, Bengaluru: Indian Institute for Human Settlements, pp. 96–100.
• Siddiqui, Hafsah. 2023. “If We Are Nothing Without Them, Then They Are Also Nothing Without Us”: Cross-Class Political Mobilisation in Urban Pakistan, doctoral thesis, Cambridge University.