TIMERGARA: A jirga on Tuesday voiced concern about growing tensions over a land dispute here and pushed them government for the early resolution of the issue in line with the Supreme Court’s orders.

Both Osakhel Yousafzai of Khaima Ghara area and Utmankhel of Shatai Darra area lay a claim to the land. Their armed clashes have killed many people in few decades.

Elders of Uthmankhel and Yousafzai tribes in Lower Dir district urged the residents of Shatai Dara area on Tuesday not to present the old land dispute between them and Malakan-i-Ghara as a dispute between two tribes.

Voices concern about growing tensions over issue

Addressing a jirga here, Utmankhel elders Said Akbar Khan and Haji Mian Akbar and Yousafzai leaders Malik Khaista Rehman, Malik Dr Mirajuddin Khan and Malik Ali Bakht said the decades old land dispute between the tenants of Shatai Dara and Malakanan-i-Ghara Balambat had been decided by the Supreme Court.

They said the apex court had granted the right to inhabited land to the residents of Shatai Dara and the uninhabited one to the residents of Malakanan-i-Ghaara Balambat.

The elders said the district administration had carried out the land demarcation in light of an agreement between the two groups but in 2013, the residents of Shatai Dara got a stay order from the Supreme Court against it that was still valid.

They, however, said despite of their own stay order, the residents of Shatai Dara were continuously violating the stay order.

The jirga demanded of the government to immediately resolve the issue in accordance to the verdict of the apex court of Pakistan and save precious lives from both sides.

ALLEGATION REJECTED: Former PPP MPA Mohammad Zamin on Tuesday denied blocking the road leading to several villages in Odigram and claimed that his rivals were defaming him by levelling false allegations.

He told a news conference at the Timergara Press Club that the PTI’s local leaders were bent on building a road on his land by force.

The former lawmaker said the government had built a road on his land for a basic health unit and not for general public.

He warned that he would move the court if his defamation didn’t stop.

DENGUE CASES: Lower Dir district health officer Dr Shaukat Ali on Tuesday said 27 dengue cases were reported in the district but they all originated in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

He told reporters at the Timergara Press Club that the dengue patients were provided proper treatment at the DHQ Hospital.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2019