CDA Razes Entire Abadi in Islamabad’s G-11 Sector Leaving Hundreds Homeless

An entire Abadi in G-11/4 Islamabad has been demolished. Most people living there were working-class people who are either sanitation workers or domestic workers.

The Abadi was mainly comprised of camps and tents of the most vulnerable people who couldn’t even afford construction material. In two days, CDA has completely razed it to the ground and they’re hoping to get permission to rebuild there cause there’s no other place for them to go.

In the Islamabad High Court order (dated 25-08-2021), the CDA was ordered to facilitate the amici curiae appointed by the court by arranging visits to Islamabad’s Katchi Abadis. The CDA did not even bother replying to the letter, let alone appointing a liaison officer for implementing the court order.

CDA officials claim that G-11/4 is not in their ‘list’ of Katchi Abadis in the capital. This is proof of CDA’s administrative negligence since G-11/4 Katchi Abadi has been there for years.

CDA officials claim that G-11/4 does not ‘qualify as a Katchi Abadi and therefore the Supreme Court stay order does not apply to them. The legal definition generally applicable throughout the country is “a human settlement that has come upon a piece of land which belongs to the public/state and over which the inhabitants do not hold legal title.” By this definition, G-11/4 is certainly a Katchi Abadi in the legal sense of the term.

CDA officials say they are “under immense pressure” from the court to demolish ‘such encroachments’.

Video Credits: Anam Rathore