CDA forces out I-11 slum dwellers amidst violent protests

• Three injured as police personnel fire tear gas at protesting residents who pelted stones at law enforcement officials

A violent clash broke out in Islamabad’s Sector I-11 between slum dwellers and Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials on Thursday as authorities backed by some 1,200 police personnel and rangers launched an anti-encroachment operation against informal settlements in the area.

All roads leading to the informal settlement, called Afghan Basti, were blocked before the operation was launched to raze more than 800 illegal homes constructed in Sector I-11. In the first phase, 250 to 300 plots allotted to different people, were cleared from the encroachers.

The operation was met with resistance from the slum’s residents. Television footage showed clashes occurring between authorities and residents as policemen and women dragged protesting residents away from the site. Protesting residents pelted stones at policemen who fought back with batons and fired teargas to disperse the mobs. At least three people were reported injured in the clash, while around a dozen protesters were taken into custody.

Bulldozers demolished temporary homes in the settlement as policemen held onlookers back from disrupting the process.

On Wednesday morning, strong resistance from residents along with infighting between the capital’s civic agency and the administration resulted in postponement of the drive. However, by nightfall, a series of meetings took place between representatives of Islamabad Capital Territory administration, Capital Development Authority and the Interior Ministry wherein it was decided to initiate the full-fledged operation against the settlement.

The settlement in Sector I-11 is the largest informal settlement in Islamabad, housing more than 20,000 people.

Earlier this week, an enforcement team of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) along with a large number of police personnel had failed to launch an operation to remove the I-11 slum after a seven-hour-long face-off with the dwellers.

The residents of the slum proved that they were organised, well-connected and had been tipped-off about the operation a day earlier. CDA officials seemed disappointed over the attitude of the police who did not seem interested in taking action against the dwellers.

On June 26, the CDA had submitted a four-phase plan to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the removal of illegal slums.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddique had directed the CDA to remove the slum from I-11 where a new sector could not be developed due to the presence of the illegal settlers for over three decades.