Street 14 and 15 Water Issueاسٹریٹ ۱۴ اور ۱۵ پانی کا مسئلہ

Getting water used to be a difficult process. We had to travel far just to fill our containers. We are Christians, a minority religious community, so mistreatment was also very common. Whenever we went to get water, we were harassed, and our water cans were snatched and thrown away by Muslims. They would also harass the women from our community. It was a difficult time.

Access to water was very difficult back then. Phase 7 Extension used to be a flowing river and as far as I remember, we would carry water cans and cross the river just to get fresh water from the other side. Eventually, the locals figured out a solution to this and began using pipes as makeshift boats to get across from the other side.

When Qayyumabad was first formed, land cost only 20 rupees. Once people began settling there, the price rose to almost 20 million PKR. A lot has changed over the past fifty years. Qayyumabad once had a large Christian population, but over time, many families began moving out and selling their homes. Families divided the money among themselves and settled separately in other areas. Some of the galis, from Gali 16 to 25, were predominantly Christian-populated streets. Earlier, streets from 1 to around 14 or 15 were mostly Muslim-populated. Some people referred to it as the area of “bhangis” (a slur used for sanitation workers) and would harass and mistreat Christians. Over time, both communities began living together, and the segregation gradually ended.