ANNOUNCEMENT:
AWP workers arrested - clampdown on katchi abadis continues
AWP leaders from I-11 katchi abadi, Fazal Shah, Noor Mohammad and Laiq Jan (AWP candidates for Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Labor councilor in recent Islamabad LG polls) were arrested from Sabzi Mandi in I-11 this morning on vague charges under section 279 of the PPC, for ’disturbing the peace’. The arrest has been made on an FIR registered on 29th July 2015, right before the brutal demolition of the I-11 abadi. It is worth remembering that 66 other workers from I-11 (including minors and bystanders) were also arrested under dubious Anti-Terror charges during the July 30 demolition, whose cases are still wallowing in the Anti-Terrorism Court.
This a clear case of the continued repression of AWP workers and katchi abadi residents who have been involved in pressuring institutions like the CDA to recognize the right to shelter. None of these workers have committed any crime except organizing peaceful protests against CDA’s unlawful eviction drive, which the Supreme Court itself termed as ’brutal’ and ’ruthless’ and ordered an immediate stop to.
It is pertinent to note that these arrests have taken place right after AWP’s protest campaign against the CDA’s bigoted statements against minorities and katchi abadis in the Supreme Court.
The AWP condemns these repressive tactics by state authorities and police and demands the immediate release of its workers and the withdrawal of all the trumped-up charges against them.
Down with the anti-poor, anti-minority bigotry of the state! Down with the unending institutional violence towards working classes and minorities!
Farooq Tariq
General Secretary
Awami Workers Party