Only for the elite

Islamabad’s biggest shopping mall, Centaurus, became the subject of a furious online debate over the weekend after it announced a Rs100 entry fee for ‘select visitors’. While the management of the ever-crowded mall appeared to be aiming at reducing the number of people visiting the mall, the notification announcing the entry fee declared a number of exceptions to the rule. The fact that the list of ‘exemptions’ read out as a list of everyone in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi who is well-to-do led to justified criticism of the mall management. The list is worth repeating here only to identify the ‘privileged’ classes. Those excluded began from the innocuous – women, children and senior citizens – but went on to include MNAs, MPAs, government officials, famous celebrities, hockey, cricket and football players, university teachers, members of bar councils, chamber of commerce members, journalists, executives of multinationals and members of exclusive clubs. The amount of effort spent in compiling this bizarre list could be amusing if it were not for the fact that it has showed us where the class boundaries are drawn in this country.
With a number of people cherishing having made it across the line while others joking that it was only ‘Pindi boys’ who were being excluded, the debate has failed to provoke a serious discussion on the structural disparity witnessed in Pakistan. The Centaurus Mall management has not taken this decision in a social vacuum. Pakistan is a society divided along the lines of class, caste, ethnicity and gender. It is quite usual for elite clubs to refuse entry to servants and a number of eating spaces follow similar policies. An even more substantive exclusion is based on the increasing reliance on private healthcare and education, where ability to pay is a key barrier for the poor accessing basic facilities. Moreover, if the residents of the twin cities are so committed to a sense of justice and equality of access for the poorer classes, then why has there been no similar outrage over Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority’s plan to demolish all kutcha settlements in the city? Surely the right to shelter trumps the right to enter a mall where you are unlikely to be able to afford anything? The debate about Pakistan being a society that discriminates against those who are poor, marginalised and part of a minority community is an important one. This discussion may have been provoked by the right to enter a shopping mall, but it needs to be broadened.