ISLAMABAD: Sakeena Bibi, a resident of an informal settlement in I-10/1, gathered at the National Press Club (NPC) with a number of others, to protest a Capital Development Authority (CDA) operation in which her home was demolished.

Speaking to the press, Ms Sakeena, who is over 60 years old,said:`TheCDAbulldozed our houses, so we have lost our homes. For the time being, I have shifted my goods and children to a structure on the other side of the road but I know I cannot live there for goodbecause thereisjustone room in the structure.

Ms Sakeena`s home was one of 20 structures, out of a total of 80, demolished during a CDA operation against illegal structures on Tuesday morning. `I was living there for the last 20 years. The CDA should give us an alternate place to build our house because everyone has a right to live,` she said.

Another protester, Gulzar Bibi, said house was also demolished by the CDA and said the authority `should give us a piece of land to live on`. Ms Gulzar is 55 years old and a widow, and works as a domestic employee in the home of Azhar Mehmood, a former Pakistan cricket team member.

Another protester Gulzar Bibi, 55, said that her husband had died and she worked as a house maid in the house of former member of Pakistan CricketTeamAzharMehmood.

Awami Worker`s Party General Secretary Nusrat Hussain told Dawn the Supreme Court ordered the CDA not to take action against informal settlements after the authority`s operation in I-11. `It is a clear violation of the court order, and we will file a contempt petition in court,` he said.

A CDA official, who was not authorised to speak on the record, said the structures stood on plots belonging to people.

`We moved the residents without harming any of them.

Residents of [informal settlements] should understand that they have been living on citizens` plots, and those who have paid for those plots have no place to live,`he said.-A Reporter