November 10, 2006	Friday	Shawwal 17, 1427

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HYDERABAD, Nov 9: Seven officials of Pakistan Navy, including a commodore and an adjutant lieutenant commander of the Cadet College of Petaro (CCP), were injured in a clash which to place on Thursday in an area under the Jamshoro police station in relation to claims of the CCP and villagers over land around the college.

It is learnt that three villagers were also injured and they were taken away by the Jamshoro police.

The injured navy personnel are: Commodore Mohammad Abid Saleem, the CCP principal, adjutant lieutenant commander, Rana Qamar Zia and five petty officers Sher Abbas, Mohammad Mushtaq, Mohammad Hassan, Mohammad Ilyas, Abdullah and Mohammad Riaz. They have been taken to the Liaquat University Hospital in Jamshoro.

Villagers belonging to the Khaskheli community claim that the land around the CCP belongs to them and is part of their Safar Khaskheli village .

There are six cases pending in the lower and sessions courts and the high court. One of the cases, filed by one Manzoor Lohar, is reported to be fixed for hearing in the Hyderabad circuit banch of the Sindh High Court on Friday (today). Two cases are pending before the court of senior civil judge, Kotri, and three before the district and sessions judge, Jamshoro.

The CCP management claims that it was allotted 429 acres of land by the Sindh government this year for Rs4.3 million while 300 acres of land had been given to the college as grant in 1958.

It says that the land had been demarcated after all formalities but had been fulfilled.

According to CCP's public relations officer, Liaquat Rizvi, the incident took place on survey number 703 when a tractor trolley was watering land and villagers objected to it.

The matter was settled in the presence of Petaro Cadet College Principal Mohammad Abid Saleem, but shortly afterwards when students were called for drill in the parade ground, located almost in the same areas where some houses of Khaskhelis were situated, the villagers started firing on Petaro Cadet College officials, causing injuries to seven of them.

They were taken to the Liaquat University hospital. According to a duty doctor in the casualty department, the injured suffered pellet injuries and were out of danger. He said that no-one from among the injured villagers had been brought to the hospital. Petaro Cadet College authorities planned to lodge a criminal case with Jamshoro police. Till the filing of this report, no case was lodged.

The Jamshoro DPO was not available for comment.

The EDO revenue of Jamshoro, Akbar Leghari, said that it was government land which had been grabbed by some villagers belonging to the Khaskheli community.

Although their village is located two kilometres away from the college and they have been living here for 15 years due to a dispute within the community.

He said that around half a dozen houses were on the lands although only two of them were old residents who had settled here 15 years ago.

“They had been demanding compensation from government which we have refused because they have in fact encroached upon government land”, said the EDO.

Nevertheless, he added, villagers kept pressurising revenue department authorities to pay compensation and they were assured that they would be given alternate land when they vacated the existing area. He said that the land had been clearly demarcated and the CCP had erected barbed wires around it.

Aslam Khaskheli, son of the late Safar Khaskheli, rejected CCP authorities' claim about Thursday's incident and alleged that CCP staff, headed by Principal Abid Saleem, had attacked their minor children and tried to run their vehicles over them.

He said that three villagers, including his two maternal uncles, Kareem Bux and Abbas, and maternal cousin Bashir were severely beaten and suffered injuries in their legs and heads.

“Police have taken away the injured and I do not know where they are.”

He said that a thoroughfare that had been opened earlier in presence of police, was closed and when villagers tried to open it, they met with stiff resistance from college staff.

He added that around 10 to 12 houses are located in the village on survey numbers 69 and 74. “Revenue officials have accepeted in writing that it's a village and not the parade ground or college premises,” he claimed.