March 26, 2006	Sunday	Safar 25, 1427

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GUJRAT, March 25: A four-member committee, comprising three nazims and the EDO (revenue), has completed probe into the Karrianwala land-grabbing incident that incited residents to launch a protest drive earlier this month. The committee has found the suspects guilty of the charge.

The officials, in the meantime, have begun probe in another case of grabbing of a piece of land in Gujrat by the son of a former municipal committee chairman, it is learnt.

According to reports, one Mehdi Khan started constructing shops on the land of a park in Karrianwala. Upon this, some residents moved a civil court which granted a stay directing Mehdi to suspend the construction immediately.

Former MNA Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gul and some other opposition leaders levelled allegations against tehsil nazim Saadat Nawaz Ajnala and his brother Shujaat Nawaz Ajnala, a union council nazim, for patronising the land grabbers.

Ajnala had defended himself and said Gul and other opposition leaders launched a mudslinging campaign against him.

This prompted District Nazim Chaudhry Shafaat Husain to form a committee, comprising EDO (Revenue) Haji Muhammad, UC nazim Sajjad Akram advocate, Noonanwali UC nazim Saleem Akram and Karnana UC nazim Qari Fidaul Mustafa, to probe the case.

The land grabbers, despite a court direction, did not suspend the construction. The committee members, along with tehsildar Waqar Khan and DDO (Revenue) Rana Manzoor, had visited Karrianwala on Monday last and found the work under way.

Meanwhile, an announcement was made on loudspeakers of area mosques by someone requesting the people to gather at the site and stop the illegal construction by force. A large number of people turned up and Ajnala UC nazim Shujaat Nawaz and his armed men also came there in favour of Mehdi Khan.

Following an exchange of harsh words, the residents turned violent and they threw stones at the occupants and ransacked the under-construction shops. The over one-hour clash left some of the people injured. Later, a heavy police contingent controlled the situation.

To express resentment against the land grabbers, some traders observed a shutter-down strike. They burnt old tyres and chanted slogans against the culprits.

As the dust settled, Ajnala blamed DCO Chaudhry Saadat, tehsildar Waqar Khan and DDO (Revenue) Rana Manzoor for the Karrianwala violence. At a press conference, Ajnala claimed that the land in question was not official but it was owned by one Jagat who had sold it to his close friend, Mehdi Khan.

The district nazim, however, denied DCO’s involvement in the incident. He said the other two officials visited the site in compliance with his orders.

“If the tehsil nazim has any complaint, he should contact the committee or court. And if he is not satisfied with him (Shafaat), he should place the matter before the tehsil council. After the inquiry, if the land proved to be a part of the park, the tehsil nazim should go with him to the place to install spring saplings,” a handout quoted the nazim as having said.

The nazim, subsequently, directed the committee to speed up the probe. Sources said the committee had drawn conclusions that the land was not owned by Mehdi Khan but it was the part of an official park.

Meanwhile, one Nasir Husain submitted a written application to the district nazim alleging that Imran Tufail, the son of municipal committee ex-chairman Chaudhry Tufail, had grabbed some area of his land.

The district nazim has directed the committee to conduct a probe. Sajjad Akram, one of the committee members, told Dawn that the inquiry would be completed within a couple of days.