Karachi: Hundreds of thousands of farm and forestlands in Sindh continue to go occupied by land mafia and a grand province-wide operation is now overdue to retrieve these lands, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) President Altaf Shakoor.
In a statement here Wednesday, he said illegal occupation of lands in Sindh is a very serious issue, as police and district administration generally opt for not intervening as powerful politicians and influential feudal lords are often involved in this matter. He said besides private lands, huge chunks of forestlands are also occupied by the land mafia. He said though the apex court has already issued directives to the Sindh government to retrieve all occupied forestlands, but implementation of such directives is always painfully slow.
Altaf Shakoor said there are thousands of poor villagers and small growers whose small pieces of land and property are illegally occupied by influential people. He said these affected people run from pillar to post to get justice and they visit courts for long years in hope to getting back the possession of their occupied properties. He said recently the PDP raised a strong voice against illegal occupation of lands of some villagers at Nooriabad and adjoining areas and luckily succeeded in getting the illegal occupation on these lands ended.
Altaf Shakoor said it has been observed that without involvement of local police and revenue department occupying lands is very difficult. He said if the police and revenue department are purged of the black sheep, the menace of land mafia could be easily overcome.
He said it is the duty of government to ensure safety of life and property of citizens. He said sadly we have two standards of governance: one for the rich and the other for the poor. He said if the interests of the elite class are affected the government urgently takes action, but if it is the matter of the poor, the government goes in deep slumber. He said for ensuring good governance this style of administration should be changed as soon as possible.
Altaf Shakoor said it is heartening to see that the provincial government has already cancelled leases of forestlands. He said it is yet to be known that which ruling politicians had allowed leasing of the forestlands in Sindh and for what purposes. He said unless the element of corruption and nepotism is ended from the politics of Sindh, the poor masses of this province continue to suffer. He said PDP believes that politics is the name of serving people and not serving the interest of the elite class. He said the PDP has already been collecting data about the occupied lands in Sindh and it would knock the door of court so that the affected people of Sindh could be doled out justice.
He demanded from the chief minister and governor of Sindh, IGP Sindh and DG rangers to order a grand province-wide operation in Sindh against powerful land mafia to retrieve the occupied farm and forestlands.