KARACHI, July 24: A widow pointing out that her land had been encroached upon by land mafia and was also receiving threats from them.

She has urged the authorities to provide safety to her and her family members and take action against such anti-social elements.

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday, Saeedun Nisa said that her late husband, Hafeez Kaiser, had purchased over 190 acres of land over a couple of decades back near the Landhi railway station, on which housing societies were planned and the plots were to be sold to people.

She said that her husband died in the early 2002 after protracted illness and the miscreants, taking advantage of her husband’s sickness, had encroached upon their land and constructed houses, shops etc.

She said that these land grabbers had misinformed some local politicians, who were issuing statements in their favor without first getting all the facts. She has urged the authorities to verify the claims, by checking legal documents.

She has also urged the PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto to direct its local party leaders — Khwaja Mohammad, Umer Jat and others — to first check the facts then extend support to the land grabbers. She said that these political leaders, by using the name of the PPP in support of the land grabbers, were giving a bad name to her party.

She has also urged the authorities — the chief minister, governor and others — to take action against the land grabbers.

Saeedun Nisa’s sons, Imranul Hafeez and Irfanul Hafeez and their lawyer Sulaiman Junejo also spoke.