ISLAMABAD: During a meeting on development activities and law and order in the capital, Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the Ministry of Interior and Islamabad’s administration to take action against what he called a powerful ‘land mafia’ that had deprived people of their holdings.

The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Ali Nawaz Awan, MNA Raja Khurram Nawaz and senior interior ministry and capital administration officials.

A senior officer who participated told Dawn: “The prime minister directed the participants of the meeting to prepare a comprehensive package for the capital to revive its natural beauty.”

The package would envisage the completion of all stalled development projects, water supply schemes, road maintenance, the development of new residential sectors, a comprehensive streetlight plan and waste management and disposal.

It was observed that since the division of administrative powers between the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), the capital’s development and beautification has been ignored.

Mr Khan was told that 58 years after the capital was made, Islamabad still lacks basic amenities and many parts of the city are without water. There is no waste and garbage dump in the city, and at night the city goes dark due to non-functional streetlights.

Participants of the meeting were informed that there was a plan to bring water from Ghazi Barotha (Tarbela) to meet the city’s requirements, which was made more than 10 years ago and could not be implemented by the PPP or the PML-N governments due to objections from provinces to cutting into their water share for the twin cities.

Earlier in the meeting, Mr Khan was briefed on operations against land grabbers and encroachment by Mr Afridi.

The state minister said operations will continue until the last encroachment and the occupation of state and private land by land grabbers.

The participants decided to form a committee led by the interior secretary against the ‘land mafia’, drug dealers and drug use in educational institutions, which would be supervised by Ali Nawaz Awan and Raja Khurram Nawaz.

Mr Khan also sought recommendations to improve the performance of the police.

While discussing land grabbing, he said no concessions would be given to land grabbers who deprived the poor of their land holdings in the outskirts of Islamabad.

He said the local administration and police would receive support to make Islamabad a model city and ensure the law is implemented without discrimination.

“Unfortunately, discriminatory laws are being implemented in the country where offences of powerful people are ignored and the poor are punished,” he said, adding that the government was committed to changing this tradition.

He added that the ongoing operation against land grabbers and the illegal occupation of state land should be accelerated with the support of the people of the capital and the media.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2018