Family seeks help against land mafia

CHITRAL, May 20:  A poor family from Gobor, a village in the Lotkoh valley near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, has appealed to the authorities concerned to help him save his ancestral land from the land mafia. [caption id="attachment_1970" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Save my land, please"][/caption] Addressing a press conference here, the aged man said his family owned the land for the last many centuries but now some influential persons were hell-bent to occupy it by force. Accompanied by his family members, the old man alleged that one Haider Ali Shah, whose father was Ataleeq and used to collect tax (Ushr) during the state days, wanted to exploit and harass his family forcing them to pay him the same old tax which was abolished with the merger of the  state into Pakistan. “Haider Ali Shah sold our land to Mohammad Fayyaz, son of Daulat Bai, on fake documents,” he alleged. He said the land was totally barren at that time and his forefathers had brought it under cultivation. He said they were tortured and pressurized by the mafia to pay them the same tax once again. He said now Fayyaz and his group with the help of local administration was trying to occupy their land and planning to evict the family from the area. He said Fayyaz along with 70 persons wanted to snatch his land by force.  He appealed to Chief Justice Peshawar High Court, Chief Minister Khyber Pahtunkhwa and DCO and DPO Chitral to stop Fiaz and his group from occupying his land. He also alleged that last year the Garum Chashma police tortured him at the behest of this influential group.  The family warned that in case of any law and order situation the local administration would be responsible. They also said women of the area had sent a unanimous resolution to the DCO seeking necessary action and stop the mafia from harassing the downtrodden people of Gobor.—G.H. Farooqui]]>