Illegal buildings

The demolition of illegal structures is in progress across Pakistan. In principle, I support this drive. However, the sudden anti-encroachment drive has raised an important question: Where were the officials of the relevant department under whose jurisdiction the area where the structures were made come when these buildings were being constructed? Many of these structures are more than 15 years old and their right to ownership/possession has passed through many hands. The government should look for and punish those officials of the departments like the CDA, KDA or LDA under whose patronage these structures were allowed to be constructed, instead of punishing only the present owners. In addition, the debris of a majority of these demolished buildings is still lying there, presenting ugly look. For example, all the shops around the double road of Baika Syeddan, Sector F 11, Islamabad were demolished a year back, however the debris is still there. The present government is patting itself on the back for recovering thousands of acres of land from encroachers. It is hoped that no injustice is done to genuine owners and that those officials under whose patronage these so called illegal structures were raised are also brought to book.

Cdre (r) Sajjad Ali Shah Bokhari ( Sydney, Australia )