The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Thursday night demolished a part of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s Central Secretariat in Islamabad over alleged “violation of building rules,” as the party claimed it had not received any prior notice of the action.
In a statement, the CDA said the demolition was part of an ongoing anti-encroachment drive aimed at removing all illegal construction. It said the operation had commenced around 11:30 p.m. and ended an hour later, adding the encroachment constructed by a “political party” was being removed from a plot allotted to one Sartaj Ali.
The CDA removed two containers parked outside the building, as well as a guardroom and a fence allegedly erected on the civic body’s land. According to the CDA, the PTI also constructed an additional floor on its office in violation of building rules, adding it had issued several notices to the party since 2020 and received no response.
Several members of the PTI leadership and its workers gathered at the site as the operation commenced, with the party claiming the demolition was “illegal and unjust.” PTI Chairman Gohar Khan claimed to media that the party had not received any notices from the CDA, adding officials had not provided any documents validating their claims.
“If there had been any encroachments and they had informed us about them earlier, we would have removed them ourselves,” he claimed.
PTI Secretary-General Omar Ayub—also the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly—condemned the late night action and vowed to raise the issue on the floor of the House. “The PTI condemns the CDA action in the strongest terms,” he said and sought to compare it to the ongoing siege of Gaza by Israeli forces.
Ayub also lamented the arrest of party leader Amir Mughal, who attempted to resist the CDA’s efforts to demolish the alleged encroachments. After the operation, CDA officials sealed the PTI’s central office, posting an order declaring its illegal constitution at its main gate.