ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Wednesday demolished 11 houses at the Afghan kutchi abadi in sector I-11.

A source in the CDA told Dawn that the houses were razed under an ongoing anti-encroachment drive to vacate the land illegally occupied by the Afghan refugees.

The houses are being demolished after the repatriation of Afghans under the aegis of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

The area is being vacated so that the land on which the kutchi abadi had been established could be handed over to the government employees who have been allotted the land at different times.

The source said, so far, the CDA had demolished over 4,000 houses at the kutcha abadi. The shanty settlement had been established in I-11 and H-11 sectors to provide rehabilitation facilities to the Afghan refugees in 1979.

Following the completion of the repatriation process, the CDA will not allow other Afghans to reoccupy the area, CDA member planning Maqbool Elahi said.

The official said about 40 acres of land had been occupied by the refugees.