Court stays Charsadda encroachment drive

PESHAWAR: A local court on Tuesday granted stay order on the ongoing operation on encroachments in Utmanzai bazaar in Charsadda.

The court, presided over by District and Sessions Judge Ajmal Tahir, was hearing a case which was filed by Zar Bakht Khan, the grandson of known educationist late Abdul Ali Khan who was the son of the founder of Khudai Khidmatgar movement Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.

Later, while talking to media persons, the petitioner alleged that the district administration and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority (KPHA) was hell-bent upon demolishing the historic Utmanzai bazaar on the pretext of encroachments by tampering the official record.

"It is our inherited property and as per the maps of 1926 we have not encroached upon a single inch," he said, adding that he would present the evidence of record tampering before the court on the next hearing.

Zar Bakht went on to inform that he approached the provincial chief secretary, KPHA director and Charsadda deputy commissioner, apprising them that Bacha Khan founded Gurh Mandi and the shops, recently declared by the district administration as encroachments, in 1926. "But my all efforts to convince them failed to bring any fruit," he added.