Tug of war: Row continues over occupation of Osama Bin Laden’s plot

Ownership claimed by Abbottabad district admin, Cantonment board

ABBOTABAD: The row over the occupation of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s compound appears to have sharpened to a flashpoint. The district administration and Cantonment Board Abbottabad (CBA) have both claimed ownership of the land.

CBA authorities forcibly occupied the plot last week by erecting a six-foot-high cemented boundary wall. They set aside the land for a graveyard for locals.

However, the Abbottabad district administration — which had previously claimed it was oblivious to this development— installed a warning sign within the boundaries of the piece of land and scribbled graffiti on its.

The signboard and graffiti state the land is the property of the provincial government. As a result, anyone using it without the permission of the provincial government would have to face legal action.

“[The land] is the property of the provincial government according to revenue record and the district administration is a custodian,” an administrative officer told The Express Tribune.

He said the ownership rights have been transferred to the provincial government.

When contacted, Abbottabad Assistant Commissioner Mir Raza Ozgan also confirmed it was the property of the provincial government. Ozgan said he had already written to the CBA authorities when they had first covered the plot with barbed wires.

Prospective uses  

After the Abbottabad commission completed the probe, the government demolished the site on February 26, 2012 to prevent it from becoming a shrine. After razing the mansion to the ground and clearing the debris, the office of the district revenue officer received instructions from the Peshawar revenue office that the piece of land should be taken over and that its utility would be decided later.

To take possession of the plot through legal requirements, the provincial government published a notice for the public. As per the notice, any owners for the land were instructed to submit a documentary proof of their ownership of plot to the revenue department within 15 days.

However, officials of the revenue department said no person or department claimed ownership of the land. Subsequently, the provincial government took over the plot.

Initially, some of the officials were of the opinion that it would be given to the education department for either the construction of Girls College No 3.

However, while talking to The Express Tribune last year Adviser to CM on Higher Education and Information Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani had disclosed the provincial government would turn the plot into a playground as the area lacked the facility.

However, this plan was not brought into effect. Children from the nearby areas would play cricket on the plot. However, this can no longer happen as the CBA authorities want to set up a graveyard there.

Unyielding

“Yes, we have decided to allocated the piece of land for a graveyard as there is no space left for a single grave in the old Cantonment Board graveyards,” CBA Vice President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Gujjar told The Express Tribune.

He added since the plot was situated within the limits of CBA, it was the first the right of 150,000 inhabitants of CBA to use it for a graveyard. He maintained all the seven members of CBA have unanimously agreed on the stance and the locals were supporting them because they believe whatever they did was for the best interest of their voters. He asked the provincial government to avoid conflict as it has not spent a single penny on the Cantonment Board area in the past.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2016.