Bashir Hussain Azad
CHITRAL: With Jamaat-e-Islami Chitral strongly condemning the demolition of a portion of a building owned by former district nazim Haji Maghfirat Shah and his subsequent arrest, the Lower Chitral district administration on Tuesday accused him of occupying government land and opening fire on officials and Levies personnel during the anti-encroachment operation.
In a statement issued a day after the operation, the administration claimed that officials were attempting to retrieve allegedly encroached government land when members of a suspected land-grabbing group opened fire on the team. It alleged that Maghfirat Shah was responsible for the firing.
According to the statement, Additional Deputy Commissioner General Abdul Salam and Assistant Commissioner Headquarters Adnan Haider Malooki remained unharmed, while two Levies personnel sustained injuries.
The injured personnel were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Lower Chitral for treatment.
The administration further claimed that the disputed government land had been recovered during the operation. Deputy Commissioner and Lower Chitral Levies Commandant Ehsanullah later visited the hospital with other officials to inquire after the injured personnel.
The administration’s account followed strong criticism from Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, who alleged that the demolition had been carried out without fulfilling the required legal procedures, including issuing prior notice and providing the affected party an opportunity to appeal.
Lower Chitral JI Ameer Wajihuddin held a press conference and said the land issue dated back to 2000, when Maghfirat Shah had exchanged a portion of his privately owned land for an equivalent area along a link road, with approval from the then executive engineer of the Communication and Works Department.
He also claimed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had investigated the matter in 2016 and cleared it.
Wajihuddin demanded legal action against the officials concerned within 24 hours, warning that the party would announce a further protest strategy if the demand was not met.
The administration’s allegations and JI’s objections have brought the anti-encroachment operation into the spotlight, with both sides presenting sharply different accounts of the disputed land and the events surrounding the demolition and arrest.