ISLAMABAD — Tensions boiled over in the capital’s Noorpur Shahan area on Tuesday as a Capital Development Authority (CDA) anti-encroachment drive spiraled into a violent confrontation, leaving two police officers injured and multiple vehicles in flames. What began as a routine enforcement operation quickly turned into a chaotic standoff when enraged residents, protesting the demolition of structures in the locality, met the CDA teams with fierce resistance. The situation escalated rapidly as protesters set fire to two CDA vehicles, sending plumes of thick black smoke into the Islamabad sky, while authorities were forced to resort to tear-gas shelling to disperse the growing crowds.
As the skirmishes intensified, the two injured policemen were shifted for medical treatment, and officials urgently called for additional police reinforcements to stabilize the deteriorating law and order situation. This incident is not an isolated one; it comes just twenty-four hours after the CDA was forced to retreat from a similar operation in the Allama Iqbal Colony of G-7, where slum dwellers staged a massive protest that forced the enforcement wing to postpone its drive after sealing only two structures.
The CDA has recently intensified its efforts to reclaim state land across the capital, but the human cost and resulting civil unrest are mounting. While the city struggles to maintain its master plan, residents of these informal settlements argue they are being stripped of their homes and livelihoods without recourse.
As of Tuesday evening, a heavy police presence remains in Noorpur Shahan to prevent further flare-ups, and the CDA has yet to announce whether the operation will resume in the coming days.
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