Influential politicians backing land-grabbers: Widow, daughter appeal PM, CM for retrieving land

MULTAN: A widow from Rahim Yar Khan and her daughter have appealed Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Supreme Court chief justice, Lahore High Court chief justice, COAS and IG Punjab Police for helping them in vacating their ancestral land occupied by land-grabbers allegedly backed by influential politicians in the district.

They further said culprits should be arrested and the administration should recover their land lease amount from the alleged occupant Rashid Korai and their land should be handed over to them. Addressing a press conference at the Multan Press Club Thursday, widow Shahida Tasneem Durrani and her daughter Hina Khurshid Durrani said influential land-grabbers in Rahim Yar Khan were ‘using’ names of Industries and Production Minister Khusro Bakhtiar and provincial Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht for grabbing lands of poor people. Rahim Yar Khan Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Dr Jehanzeb Labar conducted an inquiry and found forgery and fraud into land-grabbing. The inquiry found the accused Shahid Mehmood was not even a stamp seller. Shahid Mehmood’s licence was issued on January 3, 2005. The stamp paper of this fraud for grabbing land of the widow and her children is dated April 6, 2002. After a thorough investigation, Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Rahim Yar Khan pronounced his verdict, declaring it fraud and forgery. Rahim Yar Khan DPO issued orders for police action against the land-grabbers but influential politicians were protecting the land-grabbers. The DPO ordered registration of case no 1071/29 in A-Division Police Station on their application but the influential politicians were protecting the accused at all levels. However, influential politicians are creating hurdles in the way of the arrest of accused land-grabbers while FIRs were registered against them.