PESHAWAR: New evidence has emerged in the Shangla playground scam involving the purchase of land at exorbitant prices in the native area of Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Haji Abdul Muneem Khan.

In a letter to the Malakand commissioner on May 8, 2014, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the Shangla deputy commissioner pointed out, “some mutations have been made by interested parties/landowners, due to which ultimately will cause loss to the government exchequer.”

The deputy commissioner sought the commissioner’s advice on what to do about the mutations on ‘very high’ rates.

lately, Dawn carried a report exposing the scam, which was nipped in the bud by the administration after Mr.

Muneem maneuvered to de-notify the possession of land under Section 4, measuring 40 kanals in Bengalay, Puran to his native Nim Kalay.

However, days before the authorities could impose Section 4 in Neem Kalay, seven mutations took place on a single day involving two brothers and close relatives of the MPA from PK-88, Shangla-II, jacking up the average price of the land to Rs15.9 million per kanal.

Mr Muneem was elected as an independent candidate but later joined Shahram Khan’s Awami Jamhoori Ittehad.

The MPA from Shangla denied any wrongdoing and insisted that the new proposed site was more feasible and that land in Nim Kalay was more expensive than that that of Peshawar’s post Hayatabad locality.

In another letter to the Malakand commissioner, the Shangla deputy commissioner maintained that the land selected initially in Bengalay, Puran was more feasible and useful for the people compared to the new site selected in Nim Kalay by the MPA and the department concerned.

Dawn has a copy of that letter, too.

The MPA, who is also the chairman of the District Development Advisory Committee, claimed that the site of the playground was shifted from Bengalay due to the reluctance by local landowners.

The deputy commissioner’s letter to the commissioner gives a different version, however.

In the letter issued on May 8, 2014, the deputy commissioner said, “the concerned Member Provincial Assembly, PK-88, Shangla-II approached this office for the change of land site, stating that the land owners of the said land do not have any alternate land for their livelihood.”

He said Section 4 in Nim Kalay had now been withdrawn following reports that mutations had been made to jack up the price though local leaders said they didn’t know if the area had been de-notified.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2014