AWP puts up resistance as CDA plans to destroy 42 slums

The Awami Workers Party and All Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis has condemned a plan announced by authorities in Islamabad to demolish all informal settlements providing housing to tens of thousands of working class citizens in the federal capital.

A meeting of AWP candidates for the upcoming local body elections on Sunday vowed to peacefully resist any attempts to illegally evict Katchi Abadi residents and firmed up their plans to take part in the upcoming local government elections to represent their interests.

During a hearing on Friday, the CDA submitted the details of a four-phase demolition plan to the Islamabad High Court. The CDA said it would raze at least 42 slums across the city starting soon after Eid-ul-Fitr (around July 18). The CDA report did not explain where the thousands of displaced slum residents would be expected to go when their homes are demolished.

“The residents of these so-called illegal slums are hard-working productive citizens, including construction workers, street cleaners, domestic workers, and fruit-sellers,” said AWP Punjab President Dr Aasim Sajjad Akhtar at the joint meeting.

“Their sweat allows the rest of Islamabad to function, yet the authorities believe they have the right to settle and get rid of them whenever they see fit,” he said.

All Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadi Secretary General Chaudhry James said that many of the people whose homes are under threat have been living here for over 40 years, working in the homes of Islamabad’s elite. “We will continue our legal response in the courts as well as exercise our democratic right to participate in the upcoming local government elections. We have spent all of our lives working in the service of Islamabad’s well-to-do classes so that we could earn enough to build these humble roofs over our heads. The CDA cannot just make us homeless overnight without providing an alternative place to live.”