CDA anti-encroachment drive to continue: Talal

State minister questions JUI-F's defence of encroachments

ISLAMABAD:

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry on Saturday said the capital's anti-encroachment campaign would continue regardless of political influence.

He also questioned the legality of placing a security cabin and generator outside the Islamabad residence of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and termed the defence of encroachments "inappropriate".

The remarks came a day after the Capital Development Authority (CDA) issued an encroachment notice for Fazl's residence, identifying illegal constructions and encroachments and directing their removal within 15 days.

The notice came amid an escalating war of words between the government and Fazl, who earlier this week criticised the government's alleged violation of the Constitution. Federal ministers hit back, accusing the JUI-F chief of overlooking his own role in forming and toppling governments.

"There will be no encroachments of any kind, and there will be zero tolerance for this," Chaudhry said during a televised address, adding that the campaign had been running for more than a year and a half. He added that notices had gone out in "every other street" of Islamabad. "Whoever committed any illegal encroachment received one," he said.

Chaudhry noted that a notice was issued "in routine" to Amanullah, the owner of the residence. It was, the minister said, a "completely simple notice" pasted on the house, giving 15 days to remove a four-by-four security cabin.

Chaudhry described the cabin as a "cage-like structure" in which a guard sits in summer and winter, outside a house large enough to park some 10 cars worth millions.

The minister said for the guard inside, "there is no shaded place," calling this a "human matter" but also a legal one. The same applied to the generator, he said, adding that the house was not on a one-or-two-marla plot but stood in one of the capital's large upscale areas where neighbours had received and complied with similar notices.