ISLAMABAD (PNI) Authorities, including police and local officials, partially demolished part of PTI’s central secretariat building in Islamabad and sealed the premises for alleged building bylaw violations.
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials arrived with heavy machinery at the PTI office in the G-8/4 sector late Thursday night. They dismantled two containers parked outside the building, a guard room, and removed a fence allegedly placed on civic land.
The office was then sealed for purported violations of building bylaws and “non-conforming use.”
PTI’s Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan condemned the action, calling it a “targeted operation” against their party.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Ayub compared the CDA’s actions to those of Israeli forces against Palestinians, asserting that Imran Khan’s vision for the rule of law threatened the government, leading to their targeting.
He argued that if there were any violations, the CDA should have allowed the party time to remove the structures.
In a statement, CDA and district administration officials described the operation as removing “encroachments” by a political party.
The statement noted that the plot where the building stands was allotted to Sartaj Ali, with the adjacent state land also encroached upon. Additionally, an extra storey had been built in violation of bylaws.
The CDA claimed that multiple notices were issued to the owner in 2020, 2021, and most recently in September 2023, but the owner ignored them. Orders to seal the building were issued on May 10 for bylaw violations and encroachment, the statement added.
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
French
Hindi
Portuguese
Spanish
Swedish