QUETTA, Aug 26: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Balochistan chapter, has demanded that the government conduct a fresh land settlement survey in the province. The commission's vice-chairman Malik Zahoor Ahmed Shah said that the delay in this exercise was causing tribal feuds and the land mafia was exploiting the situation.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, he claimed that settlement of lands was conducted in 1901 and 1941 by British colonialists but now the government was allotting unsettled lands of tribes by describing them as state land.

He alleged that an influential person, in connivance with police and revenue staff, was selling the unsettled land of real owners in Quetta. He cautioned the government that if appropriate steps were not taken, bloody conflicts among tribesmen might ensue.

Replying to a question, he asserted that a large number of real owners had filed cases in courts, adding that owners suffered badly because of lengthy court procedures that benefited people occupying land with help from corrupt revenue staff and police.

He asserted that in Sariab area (a Quetta suburb) alone, about 40 thousand acres were controversial due to non-settlement of lands. He said that the land mafia was selling these lands to Afghan refugees at exorbitant prices.

He also alleged that the government was committing mistake by allotting the unsettled tribal lands to different departments and law-enforcement agencies to construct buildings. This, he said, amounted to land usurpation.