BADIN: A strong police force drawn from several districts late on Sunday night confronted a band of around 150 armed men to retrieve 1,050 acres of farmland belonging to Federal Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza, her spouse Dr Zulfikar Mirza and their children.

The operation was launched after a day-long stand-off with the armed intruders forcibly occupying the lands and several hundred supporters of the Mirza family standing face-to-face and waiting for a green signal to challenge them.

The lands are situated in Khan Shah union council of Tando Bago in Badin taluka. The area police along with Rangers personnel remained alert to prevent a showdown.

The armed band struck the lands in the early hours of Sunday and, after holding the Mirza family’s estate manager along with some haris at gunpoint, took physical possession of the property. They possessed some documents to claim its ownership. However, at around midnight, an FIR was registered against the intruders at the Pangrio police station under relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Ahsan Ali Liskani, the Mirza family’s estate manager. The complainant stated in the FIR that the intruders were led by a man, Bisharat Zardari.

In the midnight operation, the intruders were made to surrender before the police, witnesses told this reporter. It was learnt that the intruders under police escort drove to the Pangrio Sugar Mills, where they had been staying for a few weeks.

Badin SSP Hassan Sardar Niazi told this reporter that police undertook the exercise to avoid an armed clash between the two sides. “I have directed the Pangrio SHO to ensure arrest of those nominated in the FIR,” he said.

After the police operation, former home minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza spoke to local reporters and repeated the allegation that the intruders acted at the behest of his political rival, Asif Ali Zardari, the former head of state. He claimed that his [Mirza’s] supporters led by his close political aides challenged the intruders and forced them to flee.

He said the Badin SSP undertook the operation under directives of “high-ups” in the federal government. He said he had purchased the land in question some nine years back. He accused the Pangrio SHO of siding with the intruders in the episode.

Dr Mirza also lashed out at Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah over his indifference over the “illegal occupation” of the lands despite the fact that the property belonged to a federal minister and her family members. He demanded immediate arrest of all those involved in the illegal act and suspension of the Pangrio SHO for “assisting” the intruders in the crime.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2019