PESHAWAR: Offices of the United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and over a dozen health facilities and international aid organisations are likely to be sealed as the deadline to vacate the residential area in the University Town has expired.
The district administration has also made it clear that it would take action to stop commercial activities in residential areas. DC Riaz Mehsud said, “We will not spare anyone, be they national or international organisations, since we don’t want to be served with contempt of court notice and we will take action across the board.”
However, the UN officials said that they were not allowed to speak on the issue. A UN official said, requesting anonymity, “We cannot give you an official version since things are being discussed on the upper level.”
According to the officials dealing with the issue, the management served notices to all those involved in what they called ‘illegal activities’ since offices and other institutions, including those of health and education, were being illegally run within the residential areas.
They said that the Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued a detailed judgment earlier, ordering the district management to immediately vacate such offices and other business setups from the residential areas. Officials added that they had been negotiating with those involved in such activities, but the respondents would always request for some time.
However, the offices and other institutions were not relocated even though they had been issued notices. A senior official at the Town office said, “Now we have received a contempt of court notice and we, on August 1, served notices to all those having been identified… we are left with only one option – to seal every institution and office.”
The official requesting anonymity because he was not entitled to speak to the journalists said that they could not back out despite having been influenced politically since they feared court would not spare them.
