PESHAWAR: The Ring Road Landowners Association has expressed serious concern over an anti-encroachment operation launched by the district administration along Peshawar’s Ring Road, alleging that shops and commercial establishments built on privately owned land were being demolished in the name of removing encroachments.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, the association’s office-bearers Zafar Shinwari, Haji Shafaat Khan, Haji Hashim Khan and Haji Zakir Hussain urged the authorities to stop the operation and protect the property rights and livelihood of the affected landowners.

They alleged that whenever a new deputy commissioner or another senior official assumed charge in Peshawar, a crackdown on properties along Ring Road was launched merely to gain ‘publicity’.

The speakers said the operation, which had been continuing for the past four days, had resulted in the demolition of several shops and commercial establishments despite the landowners possessing revenue records establishing their ownership.

They maintained that their families had owned the land long before the construction of the Ring Road and rejected the impression that they were occupying government property.

The landowners claimed that they had produced court orders before the administration during the operation, but their appeals went unheeded.

They expressed fear that the demolitions would render thousands of people jobless and deprive the families of their ancestral properties.

The speakers, representing residents of Hazarkhwani, Landi Arbab, Afridi Garhi, Gulbahar and Landi Akhun Ahmad, appealed to Governor Faisal Karim Kundi to intervene and direct the authorities to stop the operation.

They said the government had already acquired land for the construction of the Ring Road and its service roads, but the administration was now carrying out demolitions on an additional strip of land measuring 52.5 feet alongside the acquired property.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2026