ISLAMABAD: Leading a protest demonstration against the proposed acquisition of their land by the capital administration, Mohammad Arslan shouts that the move was tantamount to the murder of his family.

“Without this small piece of land, we will be beggars.”

The residents of Malot on Thursday staged the protest rally across the city and ended it at the deputy commissioner office as the process to acquire the land to develop a housing society for the lawyers of the Supreme Court started.

Around 2,000 residents of the village are worried about their future if their ancestral land was acquired for the project.

Capital admin has issued notification to acquire land for a housing scheme for SC lawyers

The ICT administration on September 9 issued a notification to acquire around 4,500 kanals of land in the village.

“My family owns mere one kanal land and we are six brothers and sisters,” Arslan said, adding on a part of the land stood their house while the remaining was being used as a cattle pen and for gardening.

Arslan works with an NGO while his father is a cook in Bhara Kahu. One of his brothers owns a barber shop.

However, talking to the protesters, assistant commissioner Saddar Rabia Aurangzeb said the notification might be withdrawn if queries raised by the administration were not cleared by the housing ministry.

“The AC has acknowledged that the government functionaries cannot buy land for a private housing society. The project is being launched for the members of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA),” said Dr Ttariq Fazal Chaudhry, the MNA from NA 49.

The establishment of the housing colony for around 2,800 members of the SCBA was approved in November 2012 on the direction of the then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

A meeting of the SCBA cooperative housing society held on July 9, 2013, suggested that the colony be established in Simli Dam area, Gulberg Town or Bhara Kahu.

However, after the directives from the ministry of housing to the ICT administration, the notification was issued to acquire land in the Malot village.

“The main question is why the lawyers of the apex court cannot buy houses in Islamabad. Why should the government purchase land for them at subsidised rates,” said Shabbir Abbasi, a local activist opposing the takeover of their land.

Malot is situated near Park Enclave but it is not part of the land acquired by the CDA for the project.

The locals said they would widen their protests after Ashura if the notification was not withdrawn.

“We will not only block roads but will also take out protest rallies with the help of people living in the adjoining villages if the government tried to forcibly take our land for the private housing scheme,” Mr Abbasi added.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2014