RAWALPINDI: The district administration carried out an operation on Sunday to retrieve 64 kanals allegedly owned by PML-N Senator Chaudhry Tanveer Khan next to Bahria Town Phase VII and met resistance from his employees and party workers.

A shovel operator named Atlaas was injured in the clash between local administration and police and Senator Khan’s employees.

The operation began in the morning, when a team of district administration officials led by Assistant Commissioner Zahid Khan demolished a portion of the boundary wall around the senator’s house and sealed more than 10 commercial buildings, wedding halls and marquees in the Walliayat Complex.

There are three wedding marquees in the area, but the administration only sealed two because one was hosting a wedding at the time of the operation.

House’s boundary wall demolished, commercial buildings, wedding halls sealed

The district administration claimed that the 64 kanals of land belonged to the government and was meant for a highway. It alleged that the senator’s house, commercial buildings and wedding halls and marquees encroached on the land.

PML-N leader Daniyal Chaudhry, Senator Khan’s son, told Dawn that his family owned the land in question and had it in their possession for many years.

He called the district administration’s action political harassment, saying the government was taking revenge because his family was “close to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz”.

The district administration and local police used heavy machinery to demolish concrete boundary walls around the senator’s house amid resistance. The team stayed on site from morning until night-time, and action continued until this report was filed.

Deputy Commissioner Saifullah Dogar told Dawn that the senator had encroached on 64 kanals of highway land.

“Around 20 kanals of land was included in the house located adjacent to Bahria Town Phase VII while the remaining 44 kanals comprised the Walliayat Complex, which housed commercial plazas, marriage halls and marquees,” he said.

He said the district revenue department had received a complaint, after which they demarcated the land and found that Khasra no. 2479 had been encroached upon and that it was allocated for the construction of a highway.

“We decided to retrieve the state land and a team was sent with the Rawalpindi and Islamabad police, as some portion of the land fell in Rawalpindi and a few kanals in Islamabad,” he said.

Mr Dogar said land belonging to the district administration and the Pakistan Railways had been encroached on.

He said the team met resistance from people but continued the operation and sealed all the buildings and wedding halls and marquees on the land in question. A portion of Senator Khan’s house was also retrieved after the boundary wall was demolished.

But Mr Chaudhry said the district administration’s operation was illegal because it did not provide any notice before demolishing the wall or sealing the buildings.

He said the land belonged to his family for decades and was not meant for a highway or road project. He added that the administration’s team came without notice and they would move the court against the action.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2020