Owners want land recovered from grabbers in Charsadda

CHARSADDA: The landowners on Wednesday asked the authorities concerned to help retrieve their ancestral land from alleged land-grabbers.

Speaking at a press conference at the Charsadda Press Club, Landowners Association President Akbar Nawaz Khan said that score of families from Mohmand Agency and other areas had shifted to Tangi and north of Hashtnagar some five decades ago.

He said the landlords had allowed these families to settle and cultivate their farm lands, adding after few years these people occupied the lands they were given to cultivate.

Akbar Nawaz said these people had occupied over 60,000 acres of land belonging to the landlords in Tangi and Hashtnagar areas.

Flanked by Faqir Muhammad, Sheraz Alam, Haroon Rashid and others, he said that various courts have decided the cases in the favour of the owners but lamented that neither police nor other concerned government departments could implement the court decisions.

He said the land-grabbers had formed their own armed groups who threaten and even did not hesitate from killing the owners and their relatives if they demand the grabbers to vacate their lands.

The man alleged these groups have already killed 12 people for reclaiming their ancestral land. He said a local prayer leader was also validating the land occupied by the grabbers and issued decrees in favour of the grabbers, which he termed disappointing.

He said the issue could result in bloodshed if the government departments concerned did not fulfill their responsibilities and intervene to settle the disputes.