PESHAWAR, May 22: The NWFP government wants the GHQ to help it get back over 2,600 acres in Dera Ismail Khan district from the army authorities concerned for distributing the land among the Tarbela dam’s affectees, official sources told Dawn here on Tuesday.

In a recently sent letter to the federal government’s ministry concerned, NWFP, said the official sources, had asked for seeking GHQ’s help in getting back some 2,607 acres recently taken over by the army from the provincial government.

NWFP had identified some 2,607 acres, out of a large area owned by it, in the drought-hit D.I.Khan district for distributing the same among some of the remaining affectees of the Tarbela Dam Project (TDP).

However, the NWFP government, according to sources, could not get its proposal materialized after the Pakistan army acquired some 17,578 acres of its land in different parts of D.I.Khan district for purposes of distributing among the deserving army servicemen and martyrs.

The state land acquired by the army also included 2,607 acres the provincial government had way back identified to the federal ministry of power for distributing it among the Tarbela dam affectees — yet to be provided alternate land after getting displaced due to the TDP’s execution 27 years back.

The NWFP government, said the sources, had recently requested the federal government that if Wapda was still interested in providing alternate land to the TDP affectees in D.I.Khan it (Wapda) should move the GHQ to get back the land the army recently acquired for its own purposes.

In an official communique recently sent by the provincial government the federal government has been asked that “if the Wapda is still interested to acquire land at D.I.Khan for the Tarbela Dam affectees, then the case may be taken up with GHQ to make their adjustment”.

Wapda has recently released Rs900,000 to NWFP by utilizing which the provincial government acquired 112 kanal at Ogi in Mansehra district for its onward distribution among the TDP affectees.