MULTAN, Dec 28: Choti Zairin village, the hometown of many a political bigwig including none other than former president of Pakistan Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, has become a picture of neglect with the locals living in grinding poverty complaining about step-motherly treatment being meted out to this part of the province.

Located some 28 kilometres southwest of Dera Ghazi Khan city, the village having a population of 30,000 faces shortage of even the most basic amenities of life. Damaged and dusty roads, open manholes, choked sewerage system and heaps of garbage all around leave a bad impression on any visitor.

Children of the have-nots romping in their birthday suits, cheerless youngsters and frustrated faces in every nook and corner of the village reveal the economic state of the village. What surprises one the most is the fact that Federal Information Technology and Telecommunication Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Senator Jamal Khan Leghari, MNAs Jaffar Khan Leghari and Meena Jaffar Leghari, Dera Ghazi Khan district nazim Maqsood Ahmad Khan Leghari, tehsil nazim Mahmood Qadir Leghari, besides many MPAs have forgotten the place where they were born and bred.

The only institution — the government high school for boys — here stands as a shattering edifice of the students’ dreams. The teachers and the taught are facing the vexed question that where are the touts of development; those who pledge to ameliorate the lot of the people in such villages.

Will the powers-that-be cast a glance on their crumbling hometown where the only educational institution is in the grip of land mafia? they ask.

Nearly 1,300 students are getting education in the boys’ school whose new building was constructed after the old one was declared dangerous. The project was launched in July 1995 after local landlord and politician Ata Muhammad Khan Leghari donated over 69-kanal land, and was completed in 1998.

The buildings department after preparation of documents asked the then senior headmaster, Raheem Bakhsh Ahmadani, to take over the building and he agreed to take it over in two days, but all of a sudden refused to do so for reasons best known to him.

On June 30, 2004, Ghulam Qasim Khan Khosa, the senior headmaster, wrote an application to the executive district officer (education) and district education officer that some people had started construction on the school land and were advertising for it. He requested the officials to take appropriate action against the land grabbers.

On July 2, Mr Khosa submitted his application with the court of Dera Ghazi Khan tehsil assistant collector, claiming that Maula Bakhsh, Ghulam Abbas Moujawar, Jumma Khan Hajjbani, Ghulam Qadir Moujawar, Noor Muhammad Moujawar and others had started constructing shops on the school’s land. He requested that the land should be re-possessed.

The EDO had, in the meantime, written a letter (No 5000) to the police chief of Dera Ghazi Khan to take immediate action against the illegal land occupants. Khalil Ahmad Khan Birmani advocate and Mehr Nasir Khan Leghari, the residents of Choti Zairin, also wrote applications to the DCO and the DPO to take action against the culprits.

Another petition was submitted in the court of district and sessions judge by Ameer Bakhsh, a resident, who took the stand that according to the revenue department record of 2002-03, the land had been allotted to the provincial education department. He alleged that the mafia had occupied the land with the connivance of the head master, the EDO and the DEO.

Later on July 19, 2004, Mr Khosa also submitted his application to the district and sessions judge to take action against the land grabbers and a few days later he complained to the EDO that the police had instituted an FIR but yet to arrest the wrongdoers.

In the meantime, the revenue department announced demarcation of the land and to everyone’s surprise declared on Aug 8, 2004 that the land was the property of the accused. Ghulam Qasim Khan, too, surrendered after the revenue department’s report and he later wrote to the EDO that the revenue officials had told him about the actual owners of the land.

The mystery deepened when Jaffar Khan Leghari submitted an application on July 29, 2004 to the DCO that according to the demarcation of the revenue department, the land over which the newly-constructed building of the higher secondary school and water tank had been constructed belonged to him. He sought re-possession of the land from the education department.

District Officer (Coordination) Mahmood Javed Bhatti sent a letter (No 05/10898-99) on Aug 11, 2004 to the EDOs of revenue and education and asked them to submit a report within 10 days.

Prolonged litigation and correspondence further complicated the issue and the DO in his report of Nov 3, 2004 submitted to the EDO revenue said the land in question was owned by Mst Saeeda Bibi and the school building was not situated on the state land. Ten days later, the EDO revenue informed the EDO education about the land’s status.

According to sources, the education and revenue departments tampered with the official record and announced that the land was the property of Saeeda Bibi and Jaffar Leghari was her caretaker.

More than hundred shops have been constructed on the land and the new school building seems to be a haunted house which is proving a haven for the addicts.

Jaffar Khan Leghari told this correspondent that his father Ata Muhammad Leghari had donated the land to the school and there was no reason for him to indulge in any scam. He said he didn’t know who was selling the land and who was constructing shops over there.

He also denied submitting any application to the DCO for possession of the land or approaching the revenue department for demarcation.