People protest demarcation of land for Karak refinery

KARAK: People of Nashpa and adjacent localities Friday blocked Indus Highway to protest demarcation of the lands specified for the construction of an oil refinery in Karak.

The protestors pelted stones on the police, injuring four policemen.

Deputy Commissioner Shafiullah Khan and officials Frontier Work Organisation along with the revenue officials went to the spot in Nashpa area for the demarcation of lands where the oil refinery is proposed to be built. And when they started demarcation of the specified lands of the refinery, the local people led by a local cleric Maulana Masood Gul started agitation against the demarcation.

They alleged that the provincial government wanted to occupy their lands on throwaway prices and added that some houses have also been marked to be displaced for the construction of the refinery in the area, which was totally unacceptable to the local people. They argued that they would provide barren lands in the same locality for the construction of the oil refinery, instead of its construction on their agricultural lands.