Tea Commerce and Development: Spatial Reproduction of State through Quetta Cafes in Islamabad

Quetta Cafes (QCs), an informal chain of tea selling cafes run by Pashtuns – an ethnic group residing in Northwestern Pakistan and Afghanistan that migrated to Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, in the wake of violence, poverty, and climate change – constitute a site where an immigrant commerce is becoming part of state processes by negotiating space and reproducing segregations caused by real estate-based development model of Islamabad. Real estate being the most profitable sector in Pakistan’s economic growth has produced ethnic, class, and gender exclusions through widespread gated communities and neighbourhoods that mark distinctions between identities. QCs, now a significant expression of urban culture in the country, operate across all developmental geographies of Islamabad as the city alone is home to over 700 QCs. Notwithstanding a standardized menu and taste, QCs are recorded to have varying rate lists, service, and ambience which are usually in accordance with the neighbourhood they operate in. Being a sphere where identities interact and public discourse takes shape (c.f, Habermas), it is important to explore how QCs negotiate their space in Islamabad vis-a-vis planning, revenue, and security authorities, as well as normalize their visibility in diverse contexts, hence reproducing state spaces (c.f, Lefebvre). An exploration of the archives of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the history of policing and land management delineate how planning and expansion of Islamabad perpetuates exclusions, whereas an ethnographic engagement with the stories of QCs-related Pashtuns illuminates the negotiations that have resulted in ubiquitousness of an immigrant commerce in Islamabad.