The Joint Action Committee continued its protest for the third day on Sunday outside the sessions court and observed a hunger strike, accusing MPA Ikramullah Dharejo of taking over a school hostel.
Representatives of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, Pakistan Muslim League - Functional, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, Awami Tehrik, PPP Shaheed Bhutto group, Sindh National Front, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand, Jamiat Ulema Islam, Anjuman-e-Talba Islam, Awami Party Pakistan and Wapda Hydroelectric Union joined forces against the MPA.
The protesters accused Ikramullah, who is also the younger brother of Sindh Minister Jam Saifullah Khan Dharejo, of taking over Roshan Tara Model Higher Secondary School’s hostel, run by the Sindh Graduate Association. They said that he transferred ownership to one of his men and recently started construction even though as many as 1,500 students are studying in this school.
They demanded that the government take action against the land mafia that continues to take over government-owned and private land and threatened to continue their strike until the issue is resolved.
According to the school administration, they received the 6,000-square-foot plot for a school by the land utilisation department during the tenure of former Sindh chief minister Abdullah Shah. Shah inaugurated the hostel on March 2, 1995, and handed over the building for this hostel.
When PPP came to power, Ikramullah’s men transferred the ownership of the plot under the name of Usman Machhi, an alleged supporter of Ikramullah, said officials at the school. The present ownership of the land is under the name of Anwer Chachar, who claims that he bought the land from Machhi, he added.
The school administration also said that they filed a complaint at the Sindh High Court Sukkur bench who transferred the case to the sessions court. The court gave its verdict in favour of the school.
The revenue department continues, however, to add to the confusion as they insisted during court hearings that they own the disputed land and failed to mention Chachar at all.
The Joint Action Committee has called a meeting of its members on Monday to decide their future plan of action. They hinted that they might take the issue to the courts if the ministers insist on forming a lobby.
“We will take action against those who have encroached upon land in Ghotki,” said the convenor of the committee, Jamal Shah. “If they escape accountability, we will stage sit-ins outside the houses of Sindh Revenue Minister Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar, DPO Ghotki, DCO Ghotki and EDO Revenue.”
Ikramullah, on the other hand, insisted that the Mahers have hatched a conspiracy against him and that has led to all these protests.
Principal Roshan Tara School Ali Gohar Pathan challenged the MPA to negotiate with him in public at Shaheed Bhutto Park in Ghotki as he possesses all ownership documents. “If the MPA is proven to be lying, he will have to resign otherwise we will accept any punishment given to us,” he said. He has left it up to the MPA to come up with a date for this negotiation.
MPA Dharejo could not be reached for comment following this invitation. Other members of his party were also unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, MPA Ikramullah’s degree from Shah Latif University has also been challenged at the Sindh High Court and he has been summoned to court on July 13.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 12th, 2010.
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