ISLAMABAD: The Senate standing committee on defence on Wednesday suggested that the military revisit its decision to evict 34 families from their homes in the Loralai cantonment.

The issue was first raised in the Senate last December by Senator Sardar Azam Khan Musakhel and Senator Usman Khan Kakar. It was then referred to the committee.

The meeting was chaired by the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s Mushahid Hussain Syed and was attended by Senators Lt Gen Salahuddin Tirmizi, Saleem Mandviwalla, Maulana Attaur Rehman, Farhatullah Babar, defence secretary, senior officers of the ministry and the station commander of the Loralai cantonment. Some families from the cantonment area were also present.

Eviction and agreements

Residential quarters were built on government land and managed by the local station headquarters. Besides the Frontier Corps and Loralai Scouts, some civilians had also rented out quarters under an agreement signed in March 1999.

According to an official brief, the tenants of 34 quarters were recently ordered to leave the station headquarters for their alleged involvement in “illegal and immoral activities”. The eviction orders led to widespread protests by those affected and petitioning of the Senate.

Reading from the March 1999 agreement between the military and tenants, Senator Babar said that the agreement did not permit the station headquarters to evict people on any grounds.

“If some residents have violated the law, they should be proceeded against in court by following the due process of the law,” he said, adding that it was not within the powers of the cantonment board to accuse residents of unspecified criminal charges “behind a generic term like ‘bad character’ citing intelligence sources or declare the charges as proven and then order evictions that is provided neither in the law nor in the agreement”.

“Eviction and demolition of houses have been resorted to only in Israel against Palestinians and under the Frontier Crimes Regulations in Pakistan’s neglected tribal areas,” he said.

“Resorting to this practice by the military in cantonments will have far-reaching negative fallout for the defence ministry,” Mr Babar warned.

“The cantonment board authorities have to follow the law. They cannot be allowed to act as prosecutor, judge and jury all in one. There is already a growing sense of alienation among the people of Balochistan from the state and society and this move will only deepen the wounds,” he added.

According to Senator Babar, the Senate’s human rights committee was shocked when they were informed that none of the relatives of the 51 deceased found in Balochistan had chosen to file FIRs with police. This, he said, was a measure of their distrust in the system and alienation from the state.

“For God’s sake do not do anything that will only further accentuate the hurt feelings of the people,” Mr Babar said.

The defence secretary assured the committee that he would take up the matter with the relevant authorities and urge them to revisit their decision.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2017