GILGIT: The two-day sit-in by hundreds of residents of Chilmisdas area of Gilgit ended on Wednesday evening after assurance by the officials that a land dispute between them and the government would be settled through a land reforms commission.

Following successful negotiations between the protesters and GB officials, Gilgit deputy commissioner issued a notification, stating that all the concerned should take all possible measures to prevent land development within boundaries of Chilmisdas till resolution of the dispute through land reforms commission.

On Tuesday, GBLA Deputy Speaker Jaffarullah Khan, Gilgit deputy commissioner, SSP and other officials failed to convince the protesters to end their agitation. The protesters continued their sit-in on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the villagers blocked the Nomal-Gilgit road and chanted slogans against the GB chief minister, and his PML-N government.

The protesters alleged that 5,500 kanal of land in Chilmisdas was inherited by the residents of nearby Nomal valley, but the government was forcibly occupying the land and allotting it to government organisations without their permission and paying compensation to them.

Addressing the protesters, opposition leader in GBLA Mohammad Shafi Khan said the land in Chilmisdas inherited by Nomal residents for centuries. He said in 2004, the government had constituted a committee to settle the land dispute between the government and locals, which had decided to allot 1,600 kanal of land to the Karakoram International University, to which the local had agreed.

However, he said later the government did not honour the decision of the committee and continued allotting land to public sector organisations.

He said the government had recently formed land reforms commission to settle such issues, and till compilation of the commission’s report, land could not be allotted to anyone.

Maulana Sultan Raees, chairman of Awami Action Committee, said the AAC would support every movement for public rights. He said the government should protect life and property of GB people rather than depriving them of their inherited rights.

GB chapter PPP president Amjad Hussain Advocate said the government was grabbing land of locals in the name of Khalsa-i-Sarkar (official land).

He warned that the locals would approach the Supreme Court if the government did not accept their right over land.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2018