SAHIWAL: Twelve illegal housing societies were demolished, along with their concrete structures, while cases were registered against the owners of four schemes under Sections 160 and 165 of the Local Government Ordinance 2025 and Sections 160(4) and 175(4) of the LG Ordinance 2022.
The demolition operations, which continued for the past two weeks, were jointly carried out by the Pera force, local police and revenue department officials.
The illegal societies fall within the jurisdiction of the District Council, Pakpattan, and the operation was launched on the directives of Deputy Commissioner and District Council Administrator Asif Raza.
It is learnt that the deputy commissioner, through separate notifications and reminders, had declared all 12 housing schemes illegal for failing to fulfil mandatory legal requirements. Most of the societies had reportedly not obtained approval for their layout plans from the Zila Council.
The demolition operation was led by Enforcement Inspector Muhammad Zeeshan. The operation was launched after the district administration had exhausted all options for negotiations with the respective owners.
Speaking to Dawn by phone, DC Asif Raza said, “No one will be spared and there is zero tolerance.” Sources said heavy machinery was used to demolish the structures built in the illegal housing societies.
The DC said cases against the owners of four housing societies had been registered at the Saddar, Rang Shah, Qabola and City police stations in Arifwala. However, none of the owners had been arrested as they had secured pre-arrest bail from local tehsil and district courts.
VISA AGENT: The Federal Investigation Agency arrested a fake visa agent on Wednesday for allegedly extorting Rs635,000 from a citizen after promising him overseas employment.
Reports said Gulraiz Amjad allegedly lured Muhammad Saleem, a resident of Hasanpura in Pakpattan city, with the promise of a job abroad in 2025. The suspect allegedly provided Saleem with fake visa documents and asked him to travel from Faisalabad to a Gulf state using the fraudulent documents. However, Saleem was deported upon arrival after the authorities detected the fake documents.
Subsequently, the FIA Faisalabad registered case No. 17/22 against Gulraiz under the Immigration Ordinance, 1979, on July 10, 2025.
After the registration of the case, the suspect allegedly went into hiding and could not be traced by the FIA. The FIA Composite Office has now arrested him.
Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2026
