ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: Capital Development Authority (CDA) will hand over its two blocks, canteen and over ten Kanals of land to an intelligence agency within next couple of days, sources in the Authority told Dawn.

The sources said two senior officials of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) called on the CDA chairman, Chaudhry Abdul Rauf, on Monday at his office and finalised the deal. The meeting lasted for two hours.

The sources said the government had already directed the Authority to hand over its blocks 6 and 8 and canteen to the intelligence agency. They said the agency would pay Rs100 million to the Authority. The laboratory and the store building of the Authority have already been handed over to the agency.

“The handing over of a huge portion (25 per cent of the total area) to the agency will further squeeze the CDA Headquarters,” the sources said. They feared that one day the agency would take possession of the entire headquarters forcing the Authority to set up its offices somewhere else.

Both the blocks and the canteen are stated to be very close to the building of the intelligence agency, posing it a ‘security threat’.

The agency had already conveyed its ‘concern’ in this regard due to presence of visitors in the canteen.

Following the handing over of the land and the buildings, the directorates established in the two blocks would be shifted to the old Naval Headquarters near Melody Market, the sources said.

They said the intelligence agency had already acquired some 60 acres (almost half of a sector) in the foothills of the Margalla Range. The agency had occupied the land about 15 years ago without approval of the Authority and it was still in its illegal possession, the sources added.

The sources said that Margalla hills and the area in their vicinity had been designated as National Park Area by the government of the late military dictator Ziaul Haq and any construction in this area was banned, the sources added.

“The authority, in violation of its own laws, is being compelled to regularise an irregular occupation,” the sources added.