GUJRAT, June 11: The Christian community of the Lalamusa city has threatened to come on the roads against the occupation of their Sabzi Mandi cemetery by some influential people.

At a meeting held here at the residence of Christian leader Raja Victor on Wednesday, it was alleged that some influential land grabbers had occupied the 19-marla space where they had been burying the dead for the last six decades.

The Christian leaders alleged that the land grabbers had offered them a 81-marla plot outside the limits of the Lalamusa Municipal Committee for the purpose. They claimed that the value of this land was only Rs500,000, while that of the cemetery was worth Rs15 million.

They said the land grabbers had taken the plea that they were taking the land of the cemetery by offering 81 marlas to the Christians. But, they said, the give and take could be done if any person was the owner of the property.

They alleged that despite repeated requests by the Christian community, the land grabbers had removed all graves and levelled the ground of cemetery besides constructing a boundary wall.

They urged the authorities concerned to get vacated the land from the clutches of the land grabbers and take punitive action against them. They also urged the Amnesty International to take up the matter with the Pakistan government to register a criminal case against the influential land grabbers.

They threatened to commit self-immolations if no action was taken in this regard.

Information gleaned by this correspondent revealed that some seven-marla land of the cemetery is in the possession of the people being patronized by some politicians of the PPP, and the remaining in the possession of those having a backing of PML-Q’s politicians.

This correspondent also visited the site and found some labourers busy constructing a room inside the boundary wall.