ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: Hundreds of residents of the Saidpur village held a protest demonstration, here on Friday, against the Capital Development Authority (CDA) after an attempt to evict some villagers.

The wrath of the protesters was directed in particular towards CDA’s Project Director, Mustafain Kazmi, who they accused of being aggressive and threatening.

They were holding banners and placards demanding that the CDA abide by its commitment to provide the affected residents of the ‘Tourist Village Project’ with compensation in the form of an alternative plot within the village. The protesters chanted slogans against what they called CDA’s high-handedness and its hollow promises.

Speaking on the occasion, chairman of the All-Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis, Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, said that it was deplorable that the CDA insisted on resorting to summary evictions even though the villagers had repeatedly reiterated their desire to work with the government for the success of the project, provided their concerns were adequately addressed.

He said the CDA chairman had given numerous assurances that there would be no untoward incident and that all affected people would be accommodated on the recommendation of a committee, which included the villagers’ representatives.

However, until now there had not been any worthwhile progress on the chairman’s proposals and instead the project director and the lower staff were taking actions that were in direct contradiction to what the residents had been promised. Akhtar said it was because of such an attitude that ordinary Pakistanis had lost faith in the government’s ability to protect their basic freedoms.

Local organiser, Shadab Kiyani said that during the operation that began on Thursday, an old man’s house was damaged by the CDA although he had a valid stay order from the high court, which prohibited the CDA from targeting his house. He said that the residents of the village would now file a contempt of court charge against the CDA.