HYDERABAD: Residents and shop owners of Arab Panwhar village have accused the Military Estate Office (MEO) management of intimidating them to vacate the village land to build a wedding hall, otherwise they would be forcibly evicted.

Staff of the anti-encroachment department of the Cantonment Board Hyderabad (CBH) led by MEO representatives and some law enforcement agency officers have asked them to leave the village as soon as possible, according to villagers.

For a long time, land of the village, off famous Thandi Sarak, has been a bone of contention between the MEO and the family of Mohammad Peeral Panhwar, son of Arab Panhwar, who is fighting the case in courts where he had questioned lease of 153 acres of land to different leaser holders. Around 15 years ago, an attempt was made to get the village vacated forcibly, but in vain. Even electricity and water supply to the village was disconnected to pressurise them to leave.

Mr Panhwar moved the high court and got a status quo order in his favour which, he said, was still in force. In April this year, MEO officers along with law enforcers and CBH staff demolished some structures in the village.

“Officers of a law enforcement agency and MEO not only threatened me, but also used filthy language which I can’t repeat. It is just to pressurise and demoralise me to hand over the land of the entire village to them [authorities],” Mr Panwhar told Dawn. According to him, it is 153 acres of land which is owned by his father Arab Panwhar and the existing civic centre, which houses different offices, reservoir of Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and old district nazim secretariat are situated on this land.

Even some portion of the Defence Park opposite Arab Panhwar village was part of 153 acres, he said. He fought a case in civil court in 80s and now it was pending adjudication in the sessions court concerned. Besides, he said, Sindh High Court’s status quo was in his favour in the wake of the situation created 15 years ago.

“If for the sake of argument I admit that the entire 153 acres of land don’t belong to my forefathers, there is no dispute over 5 acres and 25 ghuntas of the village land where Arab Panhwar village and around 30 shops exist. I recover rent from shop owners, despite that we are threatened that our properties will be razed to ground if we don’t leave,” he remarked. He claimed that he possessed confidential correspondences between the military authorities, indicating that 5 acres and 25 ghuntas of land belonged to the village. “It is entered in the general land registration (GLR) in our name, yet we are facing this situation,” he said.

But no one from the MEO came forward to respond to these claims/charges as they were always reluctant, he said.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2015

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