Members of both groups resorted to aerial firing and forced all shops and businesses in the neighbourhood to close down. Residents were also forced to stay indoors as gunshots echoed in the area. The firing also suspended traffic on University Road.
As the fight over land worsened, unidentified men also set fire to the camp office of a political party. As a result, the furniture and other valuables present inside the office were reduced to ashes.
As soon as the Sachal police arrived at the site, members of both groups escaped but the shoot-out caused several residents to take to the streets in protest.
Residents of Jauhar Complex, Zehra Nagar, Rizwan Society and other areas pelted stones at vehicles near the Meteorological department and also burnt tyres in protest. They claimed that if the police were efficient, the land ‘mafia’ would never dare to take over their land.
According to the residents, the police stages illegal occupations on plots owned by influential people and then charges money from those who build on these encroachments. The rate charged by the police varies according to the amount of construction that takes place on the plot. For example, if there are four walls built on a 120-square-yard plot, the police allegedly receive up to Rs40,000 in bribe, a resident said.
The police play the role of a mediator between the plot owner and the land mafia and, the payment of bribe, even manages to free the land from encroachment. The protesters further claimed that 30 to 50 plots are illegally occupied every month on the Super Highway, Northern Bypass, University Road, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and its surrounding goths.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2011.
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