MULTAN: Evacuated from their shelters, two poor families have been living in the open just outside the press club for two to three weeks as a protest against those responsible for providing them justice.
 
One of them alleges that a public department has grabbed their land and the other says some influential persons have forced them to leave their home and hearth.

Mumtaz Mai of Mauza Kalarwali in Jatoi tehsil (Muzaffargarh) has been spending her day and night along with her children, her mother-in-law and her father outside the Multan Press Club for two weeks.

She said she married Muhammad Yousaf some 14 years ago and a piece of land where her in-laws had been living for years was given to her as ‘Haq Mehr’.

She said although the land was ‘Abadi Chah’ and nobody had the right of ownership, it gained value after construction of metalled road from Dammar Shomai to Kalarwali and her neighbours planned to occupy the land.

She said the influential neighbours started demanding that the land be vacated and given to them.

On refusal, she said, the perpetrators, including Abdul Hafeez, Tanzeelur Rehman, Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, Abdul Razzaq, Hammadur Rehman, Ghulam Akbar and Saifullah, stormed her house on Oct 26 last and hurled threats at them.

They also beat up the family and dragged her, damaged the wall of her house by a tractor and stole their goods, the complainant said.

She said she informed the Shahr Sultan police which, however, didn’t take any action as the land-grabbers were backed by a nazim. She threatened that she would commit suicide along with her children if justice is denied to them.

Shahr Sultan police SHO Bilal Khosa said he had offered the Mai to live at her house and nobody would disturb her in future. He said the police couldn’t register an FIR against those identified as they were the actual owners of the land.

The other case is that of Muhammad Idress, a resident of Mauza Arazi Ghulam Yaseen, whose family has been facing ordeal for the last three weeks in the open.

With him is his wife and son and they are out to protest against the Multan Development Authority.

Idrees told Dawn that a three-kanal piece of land was being used as ‘Ghair Mumkin Abadi’ situated in Khasra No27/27. It belonged to an evacuee lieutenant-colonel, Ganga Ram. He said the land was allotted to his grandfather, Nizamuddin, after partition and subsequently was cultivated by his father, Muhammad Tufail.

He said Wazir and his sons Abdul Majeed, Muhammad Siddique and Muhammad Ramzan of the vicinity got the land transferred in their family’s name by hook or by crook. ‘Wazir tried to get possession of the land through the revenue department, which was refused on Aug 12, 1972 by the then collector.

Wazir and others challenged the collector’s decision in the court of Additional Commissioner Sahibzada Naseer Bakhsh who rejected their appeal on Jan 27, 1973, saying the revenue department could not lay its hands on ‘Ghair Mumkin Abadi’, he claimed.

He said by the virtue of instructions regarding the residential rights in Ghair Mumkin Abadi evacuee land, a circular order No-Rehabilitated-1 of June 12, 1969, by the Multan commissioner read: ‘It is instructed that any person holding a Ghair Mumkin Abadi in the rural area cannot be evicted from the place and if any person has got an allotment in his name under schemes, he cannot eject any of the occupants either living at the place or using it for business. He also cannot charge any rent from the occupants or harass or trouble them.’

He said the circular also contained that if such abadi is allowed to some other persons except the occupants, the allotee can have the exchange of the land under occupation as abadi with agricultural land from the department.

He said the occupant of such a building site couldn’t be ejected as directed by the commissioner.

There was also no provision of passing any order in respect of transfer of such building as according to the settlement scheme, ‘all Katcha Rural Buildings in second and third category area shall be deemed to have been transferred to the occupant free of charge.’

He said he occupied the land after the death of his father, but the MDA had occupied his land for Fatima Jinnah Phase-I and deprived him of compensation. He said besides three kanals, he also had rights in respect of another two kanals which his grandfather had occupied after 1947.

He demanded that the chief minister direct the authorities to correct the record and compensate him.

Multan Development Authority Director General Syed Tassaduq Hussain Bokhari said the MDA had purchased the land after 2002 and the documents in possession of Idrees had no legal validity.

He said the complainant was the owner of only seven marlas, but he was claiming ownership of five kanals.

He said the authority would pay the compensation (money) to the complainant if he would present the ownership documents issued by the revenue department.