Turf wars: Can the Sindh govt take action against the land mafia?

Minister tells MPAs that his department has no 'force' to reclaim land

KARACHI: It seems that the Sindh government is helpless before the land mafia and can not retrieve the land that has been forcefully occupied in the province. At least, that is what the provincial minister for Katchi Abadis and Spatial Development claimed when he told the house that his department lacked the 'force' to reclaim public land.

The minister, Muhammad Jawaid Nagori, informed the House on Friday that public land in Karachi, Thatta, Jamshoro and Sukkur had been occupied by the land mafia. His response to questions from fellow MPAs on why he had been unable to get the land back was: "There is a lack of force and that's why we have been unable to do so." He added that there were several settlements in Karachi that have not even been given a lease as yet due to the law and order situation of the city.

According to Nagori, people residing in such areas since 1985 will be allowed a lease if they have valid ration cards and computerised national identity cards (CNIC) or anything else that proves that they are residents of the neighbourhood.

Of sugarcanes and rice

Muttahida Qaumi Movement's parliamentary leader Sardar Ahmed said that it was the government's responsibility to fix the prices of rice, cotton and sugarcane. While discussing procurement prices, he said that the government purchases directly from the growers when the private sector doesn't buy the crop.

Responding to Ahmed, Sindh Health Minister's Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar said that it is the federal government that makes the purchases and the Sindh government had no power or authority to fix prices of rice or cotton. Dahar added that the provincial government was trying to resolve the issues of the growers.

The session was adjourned when members sitting on the opposition benches tried to highlight the sugarcane crisis in the province.

"This is not the way to run the House," said MQM's lawmaker Khwaja Izharul Haq when the deputy speaker, Shehla Raza, adjourned the session before it was supposed to end. "We have been raising the sugarcane issue for the last three days but the ruling party is ignoring it constantly."

According to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's MPA and former chief minister of Sindh, Liaquat Ali Jatoi, the MPAs were there to raise the public's issues but the Pakistan Peoples Party government was deliberately ignoring them.

Former provincial chief ministers - Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Jatoi, supported the MQM's demand for the imposition of martial law in Sindh.

While talking to the media outside the assembly, Dr Rahim said that there was no democracy in the country. "The democratic system in the country has not provided relief to the masses," he said. "I think MQM chief Altaf Hussain's demand [for martial law] in Sindh is correct."

Jatoi claimed that the PPP and PML-N were supporting each other but there was too much corruption in Sindh.

While talking about Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, Dr Rahim said that the prime minister did not listen to them. Another PML-N MPA, Aijaz Ali Shah Sheerazi said that the PM did not have time for them. He added that they had raised the issue of occupation of forest land before the prime minister but nothing had been done about it.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2015.