PESHAWAR: Members of the Qabristan Bachao Tehreek (save graveyard movement) on Monday staged a demonstration here to demand action against the people involved in the grabbing of the land of local graveyards.

Led by Ghulam Hussain Afridi and Syed Azhar Ali Shah, the protesters shouted slogans against the district administration for failing to act against land grabbers.

They told reporters that land grabbers had become active again in parts of Peshawar and had been carrying out their activities overnight as the relevant departments didn’t act against them.

The protesters said after taking a suo moto notice, the Peshawar High Court had directed the local administration to demolish illegal structures put up on the land of graveyards and even some illegal walls were pulled down, but the people built them again.

They pointed out that some influential people belonging to Nowshera was very active to grab graveyard land in Peshawar, while the district administration had turned a deaf ear to the people’s complaints in that respect.

“Whenever the locals start demolishing illegal structures, the police harass them instead of taking action against land grabbers,” a protester said.

He demanded of the provincial government to order probe into the matter and ensure the immediate arrest of land grabbers.

The protesters said in some areas, old graves were demolished before their land was grabbed.

They also demanded of the Peshawar High Court chief justice to step in to protect the sanctity of graveyards.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019