ISLAMABAD, Jan 15: The intervention of some AJK Legislative Assembly members on Monday forced the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and district administration to abandon an operation launched to vacate some 200 government flats occupied by the quake-affected Kashmiris and locals near Aabpara.

The early morning operation came a cropper when a minority leader Julius Salik and representatives of some local NGOs reached the spot and protested against the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration by joining ranks with the flat occupants. During the operation, it also came into the notice of the departments concerned that the flats had not only been occupied by the quake-affected Kashmiris but also by some employees of the CDA, local police and the ICT administration.

The operation was conducted on the orders of the Ministry of Interior which had directed the local administration to remove all illegal occupants from the flats by January 15. The ministry had told the CDA that if the quake-affected people had returned to their homes from the main camp at H-11 then why the occupants of flats were not going back.

Over 300 people gathered outside the flats threatening another agitation at Aabpara Chowk where most of demonstrations and rallies are staged. However, some AJK parliamentarians, who had reached the spot soon after the arrival of police in the area, compelled the CDA and ICT administration to stop the operation. Julius Salik set his clothes on fire during the protest.

Over 200 families had reportedly occupied the CDA flats two or three days after the quake without seeking permission of the authority. The flats had been constructed in 1997 at a cost Rs200 million under a mage project to provide 5,000 flats to the government employees.

“We will again conduct an operation in two or three days to remove these illegal occupants,” Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Muhammad Ali told Dawn.

The official said that the Kashmiri families had assured them that they would vacate the flats on Tuesday (today). He said the Kashmiri families had also assured the local administration last year that they would go back to their hometowns by January 2006 but despite lapse of one year they were reluctant to vacate the flats. The official said the occupants of the apartments were not quake-affected people but those Kashmiris residing in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad for the years. He said majority of the occupants were the CDA, police and ICT administration’s employees.

He said the occupants were not giving rent or paying the utility charges. As a result of their attitude, the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) suspended power supply to the flats but the occupants were still receiving supply of gas and water.