22 October 2004	Friday	07 Ramazan 1425

QUETTA, Oct 21: Elders of the Shahwani tribe have warned the provincial government against demolishing houses on what they termed private land in the Sariab area and said it would create a law and order problem and the administration will be responsible for consequences.

Speaking at a press conference at the local press club on Thursday, Malik Dad Mohammad Shahwani and Malik Yar Mohammad Shahwani jointly alleged that the administration had attempted to demolish some houses but the police had backed down after encountering resistance from land owners.

They claimed that the Shahwani and Kasi tribes had been living in the Quetta valley for past three centuries and said that according to a land settlement conducted by the British government, the revenue department had officially recognized the two tribes as owners of the land in the area.

They further claimed that unsettled areas adjacent to settlement lands also belonged to the tribes, adding that their rights had been recognized in the first settlement, revenue laws and traditions.

They accused vice-chairperson of the Balochistan chapter of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Zahoor Ahmed Shahwani of collaborating with corrupt revenue officers, local administration and land mafia to usurp the lands belonging to the Shahwani tribe.

They urged the Balochistan High Court and the provincial government to take serious notice of the situation and act against officials who, they said, were bent on depriving the real owners of land. He said that the legitimacy of ownership could be ascertained from the revenue record.

They cautioned the government against making any move to demolish their houses again, adding that the tribesmen would react in a way that would endanger the law and order situation in the city.