Action against katchi abadis : Call for end to operation, rehabilitation of evictees

Protesters urge SC to take up petition pending in the court.

ISLAMABAD: Protesters on Sunday demanded that the government rehabilitate hundreds of families displaced from I-11 katchi abadi.

Students and political activists at a protest camp, organised by the Awami Workers Party (AWP) outside the National Press Club, demanded an end to Capital Development Authority’s operations against katchi abadis in the capital.

They also demanded immediate withdrawal of all cases lodged under Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) against dwellers during the recent action against I-11 katchi abadi, also known as Afghan basti.

The participants of the camp called upon all democratic forces to peacefully resist CDA’s drive against illegal slums in the city.

Delegations of Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) also attended the camp.

Set up around the camp were photographs of the high-handed methods employed by the CDA and Islamabad Police during the demolition of I-11.

Addressing the participants, AWP Islamabad information secretary Ammar Rashid said the brutality meted out to residents of I-11 katchi abadi could not be acceptable to any civilised and democratic society.

“If such horrific scenes of state excesses could unfold on live television in the federal capital, one could only wonder what was going on in remote areas of the country,” he said.

Rashid said that “while it was heartening that the Senate had taken up the issue, it was only when cases are withdrawn and resettlement of the I-11 evictees initiated will we believe that democracy has triumphed over authoritarianism, otherwise more and more of our basic civil liberties stand to be usurped.”

AWP youth secretary Amna Mawaz said the biggest victims of such an operation were women and children. She said families that were thrown onto the street last week are still making do in temporary accommodation with relatives.

“All mainstream parties are responsible for not recognising the need for long-term planning to meet the enormous demand of low-income housing in urban centres,” she said.

Other speakers called on the Supreme Court to take up the petition filed by AWP President Abid Hasan Minto seeking clear directives from the apex court about whether citizens are entitled to basic rights of life, livelihood and shelter.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2015.