PESHAWAR, Oct 20: A retired health technician on Friday accused NWFP Forest and Environment Minister Shah Raz Khan of forcibly occupying 31 acres of his land in Fatu Abdur Rahim village, located in one of the city’s rural area.

Addressing a press conference at the press club here on Friday, Syed Qaim Shah Bukhari, belonging to Wadpagga Sharif but currently living in Hayatabad, said he had spent 25 years in Libya, where he served as a health technician.

He said that he had purchased the land after returning home. Earlier, he said, his brother had been implicated in a bogus case and he had to undergo seven months’ imprisonment. Later, the court exonerated him.

During his prison term, he alleged Masood Shah, Aminullah Shah, Tehseenullah and Rehmat Ali Shah, sons of Rafiullah Shah, sold his land to Irshad Ali and Inamul Haq, brothers of NWFP minister Shah Raz Kah.

He said that he could prove through Khasra numbers that he was the lawful owner of the land.

He said Shah Raz Khan along with employees of the forest department and Chamkani police had tried to take possession of his land from his tenant, but the latter aborted the move by filing a case against the newly emerged land mafia in the court.

He said once the minister tried to take the possession of the land by bringing in sepoys of Malakand Levies, but the villagers had forced them to flee.

On Thursday, he alleged, the minister again raided his land along with his armed hired men and Chamkani police and forced Mohammad Rafique (his tenant) to vacate the land move out of his mud-house located in the fields.

He said the minister along with his armed men stayed for five hours on the site, but he failed to purchase the loyalty of his tenant. He said that the minister had earlier offered Rs200,000 to Mr Rafique for abandoning the tenancy, but the latter refused to do so.

He urged the government, particularly leaders of the Jamaat-i-Islami, to advise the minister to refrain from occupying the land. He said if he was not restrained it would demonstrate what brand of politics was being promoted by the MMA.

He urged the president and the prime minister of Pakistan to take notice of the situation and order an inquiry against the minister.