PHC issues notices to Ministry of Defence & federal govt

Disallowing tribesmen from constructing shops in Miranshah Bazaar

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday issued notice to secretary Ministry of Defence and the federal government through secretary States and Frontier Regions and directed them to explain as to why the owners were not allowed by the armed forces to construct shops on their land demolished during the Zarb-e-Azb operation in Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Nisar Hussain Khan and Justice Roohul Amin Khan issued notice to secretary States and Frontier Regions and secretary Ministry of Defence to submit reply in the writ petition before the next hearing. The petitioners have sought permission to construct shops on their land in Miranshah bazaar.

Naqeeb Rehman and 67 other people from North Waziristan had filed the writ petition through their lawyer Abdul Latif Afridi.

During the hearing, the petitioners’ lawyer submitted that Miranshah bazaar was built on the land owned by two sections of Daur tribe, namely Darpakhel and Miranshah Killay and a section of Wazir tribe namely Borakhel.

He said the 8,000 shops in the Miranshah bazaar mostly belonged to these three tribes. He said there were 68 markets in Miranshah bazaar and each market had dozens of shops.

The lawyer said Miranshah was the biggest urban centre in the entire Fata and an important trading centre near the Afghan border. He said the whole of North Waziristan was under the control of Taliban and foreign extremists were also present there till Zarb-e-Azb was started in June 2014.

He informed the bench that before starting Zarb-e-Azb operation, the armed forces only gave three days notice to the people of North Waziristan except those of Razmak and Shawal tehsils to evacuate their homes and villages. He said more than one million displaced people were settled temporarily and a camp for uprooted families was established in Bakakhel in Frontier Region Bannu.

The petition said the armed forces fought the terrorists and pushed them to the Afghan border. It said the locals of Miranshah left it to the wisdom of the armed forces to settle the issue.

The lawyer said more than 4,000 shops in Mir Ali behazar were demolished. He submitted before the bench that the armed forces neither allowed owners to remove the salable goods from the shops nor debris of their shops.

He pointed out the owners did not know as to who robbed the 8,000 shops in Miranshah and 400 in Mir Ali of the salable goods and articles.

 “First the petitioners were deprived of salable goods worth millions of rupees and then their shops were demolished and construction material removed from the shops. These acts are not permissible under the law,” the petitioner claimed.

They said the owners said the armed forces had no authority to deprive them of their land.It lawyer said the petitioners begged for release of their property so that they could rebuild shops as per the master plan, but all in vain as the authorities turned deaf ear to them.

In the grounds to the petition, it said the petitioners are being discriminated in flagrant violation of Articles 4 and 25 of Constitution and the acts of the respondents are arbitrary and based on the brute force with no support from the law.The petitioners prayed before the court to restrain the respondents from construction on the land owned of the petitioners.