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http://hlrn.org/news.php?id=pmhlag==#.U2iIh6Khezc
Monday, April 14: The CDA and Islamabad Police organized the demolition of dozens of katchi abadi homes along I-10 and H-10 today, rendering hundreds of people in those informal settlements homeless. Many of the residents who were evicted were either refugees from Afghanistan, or internally displaced people from Balochistan and FATA. Most did not resist or organize against the evictions because of fear of possible arrest, deportation or violent reprisal from the state. The situation in the abadis was tantamount to a man-made humanitarian disaster, with hundreds of people, including women and children, being deprived of homes without restitution or resettlement. All of these people are now without any form of shelter.
The authorities also wanted to attempt the demolition of the nearby H-11 katchi abadi (populated largely by Pakhtuns from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) but were prevented from doing so by the organized residents and members of APAKA, who turned up in large numbers to confront the bulldozers.
It is to be noted that today’s evictions (regardless of the origin of the residents) are in violation of several domestic and international legal and constitutional frameworks that deal with refugees and forced evictions, including the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Pakistan’s constitutional right to shelter and the 2001 National Housing Policy, all of which the state of Pakistan is bound to uphold.
The current spate of evictions is proof that the authorities in Islamabad have decided to target (at least initially) the weakest segments among the slumdwellers, those who are legally vulnerable, un-organized and unrepresented. In targeting the most vulnerable, they wish to escape scrutiny for the evasion of several constitutional and legal obligations that they are not willing to meet.
The APAKA is attempting a meeting with the CDA again tomorrow to resolve the issue of katchi abadis before large scale social disruption and upheaval becomes inevitable.
Original source
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