February 4, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 2,1423

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GUJRAT, Feb 3: Sanitary and other staff of the Kharian Tehsil Municipal Administration went on strike for an indefinite period on Monday and staged a protest rally against beating up of two TMA employees by the musclemen of former MPA Mian Tariq Mahmood and his brother Mian Amjad.

The ex-MPA and his brother had allegedly illegally occupied a piece of land of Dinga municipality.

The staff of Kharian TMA, which comprises Kharian, Lalamusa and Dinga, gathered on the premises of Dinga municipality. They requested the residents to join their hands against land grabbers who beat up two TMA workers.

When a sizable number of residents gathered there, they took out a protest rally and marched on the roads. They claimed that the former MPA and his brother had illegally occupied the land situated in Dinga main bazaar where they started construction on Sunday without permission from authorities. Some officers of Dinga municipality informed police who restrained them from construction.

The protesters claimed that they again started construction. When employees Zahoor and Mazhar Shah, etc., visited the place and told police about the illegal work, they were beaten up by the musclemen of the former MPA in the presence of police.

They claimed that the Kharian tehsil Nazim informed police about the matter and sought their help to take necessary action against the men who were illegally occupying municipality land.

The protesters claimed that police remained silent and the land grabbers completed the construction work. They were carrying placards and banners inscribed with anti-police and anti-MPA slogans. They demanded of the chief minister to take stern action against police and land grabbers.

The TMA employees threatened that they would continue their strike for an indefinite period if the SHO of the police station concerned was not suspended and a case was not registered against him.

Meanwhile, Kharian tehsil Nazim Nadeem Asghar Kaira told newsmen that PML-Q MPA Maria Tariq’s father former MPA Mian Tariq and uncle Mian Amjad were in a bid to occupy the municipal land.

They enjoyed the support of the Dinga SHO and built a structure on the land in the presence of police, he alleged.

Mr Kaira said some men wanted to purchase the land at throwaway price which, according to him, was worth more than Rs500 million.

When contacted, Mian Amjad denied the charges that he and his brother were in a bid to grab the land.

He said the federal government owned the land. The land was disputed and its 101 occupants, including him, were engaged in litigation for its possession, Mr Amjad added.

He said they were running a wagon stand at the place which had been removed by the Kharian TMA, last year on the instructions of the tehsil Nazim.

Meanwhile, the residents of Dinga, Kharian and Lalamusa had to face difficulties due to the strike. Water supply remained suspended and heaps of garbage were lying on roads and streets.