Evicted man seeks justice from Supreme Court

Police refuse to register an FIR, involvement of an MPA alleged.

RAWALPINDI: Bad things, one after another, have been happening to Binyameen in the past four years. Originally allotted the wrong piece of land, he had to abandon construction after the original owner came forward. Then after taking possession of his actual plot, he was forced out by armed men. He approached the police, who refused to file an FIR.

Binyameen told The Express Tribune that Khalid Masih, his brother-in-law, had purchased a piece of land in the Roman Catholic Christian Cooperative Housing Society in 2006 and given him the power of attorney.

The housing society had been a project of the Bishop of Rawalpindi Anthony Lobo who purchased 300-kanal land in Humak Town especially  for the welfare of the Christian community, with funds for this purpose sent to him from the foreign Christian community. The society got registered with the office of Cooperative Housing Society Rawlalpindi in 1987.

Binyameen was allotted plot number N/294/5. He took possession of the land and started construction of a house. Shahida Naz, the actual owner of the plot, soon emerged and sued Binyameen in the court of Circular Registrar. The registrar decided that Naz was the legitimate owner of the land (as per rules) and handed her the land’s possession.

Binyameen approached the society office to help him resolve the matter. The president of the society, Rehmat Manzur, along with the secretary, Naimat Khan, and the site engineer, Sarfraz Amman, told him that his actual plot was N/307/5.

He took possession of the new plot, erected a boundary and moved in. But one day, when he was not at home, Rehmat Manzur, Naimat Khan and Sarfraz Amman with the help of their two armed bodyguards, broke the lock and windows of his house and took over the premises, Binyameen said. The guards, he alleged, were given to them by a member of the provincial assembly.

Left with no home to return to, Binyameen approached the Sihala police station. However, the SHO refused to register an FIR against the three suspects, he said. Binyameen alleged that the SHO was being pressured by the MPA.

“I have no one else to turn to. I appeal to [Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhamamd Chaudhry] to take suo motu notice against the illegal occupation of my house,” Binyameen said.

Manzur, the president of the housing society, refused to comment on the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2010.