Displaced people not yet settled

ISLAMABAD - The issue of people displaced from the greenbelt in Sector G-7/2 remains unresolved, as no state authority owns these abandoned people. They were first displaced from Chak Shehzad and were settled on the greenbelt in Sector G-7, from where they were again relocated in Sector H-9 near Gora Qabristan. The issue took a new turn as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) once again issued notices to them to vacate the new location. The Authority has served notices on them giving them one-month time to leave the area. Approximately one month before the CDA officials and the ICT administration upon intervention of the Supreme Court relocated them in Sector H-9 near Gora Qabristan after the residents of sector G-7/2 protested over their presence in the greenbelt area and had move the apex court against them. Earlier, on May 18, 2009 some 414 families evicted by a police action in Chak Shehzad had forcibly occupied the greenbelt in G-7/2 on the instigation of a former minority minister and were living there under flimsy sheds and tents. According to a CDA official, The civic agency is not responsible of their rehabilitation in the Capital, they might go to hell but they will have to leave the area. He also termed them 'a gang of land grabbers. According to CDA Director (Enforcement) Capt (Retd) Faiz the civic agency had evacuated some 225 families from G/7-2, however, in one-month period the number surged up to 300 families in H-9. Rafiq Masih, a representative of H-9 Katchi Abadi, said that the original number of families, which were relocated in H-9, was some 230, however, the number had reached to 414 families. How can we stop our community members to establish their tent/s in the locality?, he added. It is pertinent to mention here that during Ayub Khans period, labourers were brought to Islamabad from different remote areas of Pakistan for development of the Capital and two labour colonies were established, one in Nurpur Shahan, which was later named as katchi abadi Muslim Colony, and the other in G-8/3 near PIMS. Later, these colonies spread in different sectors of the Capital like G-7/1, G-7/2, G-8, F-6, F-7 and F-9 during the period of Ziaul Haq.

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