KARACHI: Taking notice of a brawl in Taiser Town between supporters of two Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf legislators in which they traded allegations of land grabbing against each other, the Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the matter.

In a statement, the provincial anti-graft watchdog said it had already initiated an inquiry into land grabbing and the recent incident had further deepened doubts of illegal activities in Taiser Town.

“The deputy director (East) of the Anti-Corruption Establishment has been assigned to lead the inquiry team and file its final report in two weeks. The people involved in illegal business would be brought to justice,” it said.

On Tuesday, an exercise by the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) in Taiser Town to mark government land turned into a violent episode when two legislators of the PTI reached the area along with their supporters and accused each other of supporting encroachments in the area, leading to a brawl between their groups.

A video of the brawl between supporters of PTI MNA Aftab Jehangir and the party’s MPA Rabista Khan went viral on social media, showing them hurling allegations against each other of seizing government land and grabbing people’s property. The incident occurred in Sector 6-C of the area where the KDA staff stood surprised when dozens of area people came to protest against alleged encroachment of their land by the “mafia”.

The PPP-led Sindh government took no time to take notice of the incident and ordered an inquiry.

“Whoever [is] involved would face the defined laws irrespective of the position he enjoys. The government would not tolerate any political influence and pressure from any side while bringing the culprits to justice,” said Barrister Murtaza Wahab, the Chief Minister’s Adviser on Information, Law and Anti-corruption.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018