At a news conference along with Naveed Chaudhry at his Shami Road office, he alleged that a drain spanning 40 kanals had also been attached in an attempt to mount pressure on residents of the area to sell their houses at throwaway prices.

Qasim said if the ministers wanted to purchase the lands for their societies, they should hold talks with the owners instead of using foul methods to force them to quit. He said he would raise the matter in the next session of the Punjab Assembly.

Ministers were not supposed to involve themselves in land grabbing using the state machinery, he said.

He alleged that those who had been deprived of their lands had also been implicated in false cases. A number of them, he alleged, had been detained.

He was critical of the government for its failure to control the law and order situation. Instead of apprehending criminals, police were helping the ministers to take over lands of poor people, said the former Punjab PPP president.

Qasim warned that such things would create unrest among the people and they would be left with no option but to take the law into their own hands.

Naveed Chaudhry said police were being used as personal servants of the rulers because of which the law and order situation was deteriorating by the day.

He said the use of development funds on public meetings of the president was wrong.

Naveed said the affected people had also staged a demonstration in the area.