LOWER DIR: Three constables received injuries when the residents of Shatai Dara pelted stones at the district administration officials and police party that had visited the village for demarcation of a disputed land according to the orders of court.

A villager was also injured when police and Levies fired teargas shells at the villagers and charged them with batons. The officials visited the area to complete partition of the disputed land between the residents of Malakanan Ghara and Shatai Dara.

The injured were shifted to district headquarters hospital Timergara while police arrested eight elders of Shatai Dara for pelting stones at the officials.

An official of Balambat police station told journalists that residents of Shatai Dara started stoning and burned tyres when police and Dir Levies led by the district administration officers reached there for distribution of the land according to court decision.

The injured constables were identified as Alaud Din, Farmanullah and Gulab Zada. Police fired teargas shells to disperse the protesters and baton charged them due to which a youth identified as Abdul Aziz was injured. He was referred to Peshawar due to his critical condition.

Police arrested eight residents of Shatai Dara including Hayatullah, Nowsher Khan, Tariqullah, Ubaidur Rehman, Rahat Gul, Inamullah, Samiullah and Sadiqur Rehman.

The dispute over ownership of hundreds acres of land had been in the courts for several decades. The dispute has so far has claimed several lives.

Addressing an emergency meeting soon after the incident, the elders of Malikanan including Malik Jehan Alam, Malik Farooq Iqbal, Malik Aslam Pervez and others claimed that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had decided the case in their favour.

They said the court declared Malikanan as the owners of the uncultivable land while the residents of Shatai Dara were declared the owners of only cultivable land.

The local leaders of political parties also started efforts to settle the dispute peacefully.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Zubair Khan Niazi imposed section 144 to stop construction, excavation and changing the structure of un-cultivatable land in Shatai Dara to avert any untoward incident during the land partition process.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2022