HARIPUR: Residents of different villages of upper Khanpur area bordering Islamabad have formed a body to counter alleged pressure for selling their land at throwaway prices after Galiyat Development Authority (GDA), Abbottabad, extended its administrative control to Makhniyal area of Khanpur tehsil.

They vowed that the new body Makhniyal Tahaffuz Movement (MTM) would protect the rights of villages of Khanpur area.

Talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, former nazim Barkot village council Waheed Qureshi said that handing over of three union councils of Makhniyal and surrounding areas out of seven under the administrative control of GDA smacked of a conspiracy to pressurise the landowners to sell their ancestral land to those enjoying backing of some government functionaries.

He alleged that the forest department had joined hands with GDA to harass small landowners on one or the other pretext.

MTM general secretary Malik Amjad Mehmood criticised the imposition of section 144 of the CrPC by Haripur deputy commissioner on the sale of their land in four patwar halqas (revenue circles) of Makhniyal area and demanded lifting of the ban.

On this occasion, retired Col Ahmad Yar Durrani, another landowner, claimed the decision to give only three union councils of Makhniyal area under the GDA control was made at the behest of elite class of Islamabad that was hell bent on purchasing the land from the small landowners through coercive tools.

“If GDA wanted to regulate constructions in Makhniyal area it must appoint an assistant director with staff in the Khanpur tehsil headquarters,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2021