Parliament Lodges occupied by former MNAs vacated with police help

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) with the help of police launched an operation to get Parliament lodges vacated, which were occupied by the prominent former parliamentarians.

According to the CDA, at least fifty-two members of the previous parliament were forced to vacate their official residence at the Parliament Lodges.

Parliament Lodges has more than 350 which are to be allotted to new members of parliament, but those who lost in the July 25 elections still had possession of some of these suites.

The authorities on Wednesday got vacated several rooms as the next session of the National Assembly is set to be convened on August 13. The former parliamentarians had not vacated even thought the assemblies were dissolved in May.

The list includes several prominent name including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former state minister Talal Chaudhry, and senior member of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) Farooq Sattar.

Other prominent names include Pir Amin-ul-Hasanat, Zafarullah Jamali, Tahir Iqbal, Bilal Virk, Maulana Amir Zaman and Sheikh Aftab Ahmed.

Quami Watan Party (QWP) chief Aftab Sherpao, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Muzammil Qureshi, Khawaja Suhail, Ghulam Rabbani Khar, Sardar Jaffar, Jaffar Iqbal, Abdul Ghafoor Dogar, Raja Matloob Mehdi, Shiza Fatima, Sheikh Salahuddin, Zain Elahi had also not vacated their residences.

Capital Development Authority (CDA) district administration launched a operation to evict the former parliamentarians and vacate the residences. Police, officials of the CDA enforcement wing, and a sub-divisional magistrate were also part of the operation.

They were forced to break down the residences of former members Tahir Iqbal Chaudhry of the PML-N and Syed Kazim Ali Shah of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F).

CDA on Thursday had issued a final notice to the occupants of Parliament Lodges to vacate the property within 24 hours by 9AM on Friday. The authority requested assistance from law enforcers to counter any unpleasant situation or probable resistance during the process of vacating the suites.