Daily Times

Land grabbers have encroached upon an ancient graveyard in Hafizabad – belonging to the Christian community – while inciting the religious sentiments of the local people.

As per the details, the notorious land grabbers in Hafizabad’s local town called Dhani have grabbed the land of a Christian graveyard that compelled the victims to approach the deputy commissioner to seek justice. The complainant, Daniyal Masih, has maintained in his application that his forefathers were settled in Dhani even before 1948 and they had the graves of their relatives belonging to the Christian community in the said graveyard.

“One fard (the property document) of the said land was also acquired by my real paternal uncle Khurshid, s\o Buland Masih, and the receipts of the land were received by Daniyal Masih and Nawab Masih after paying the amount,” the complaint filed with the Hafizabad DC said.

Century-old graves demolished by land grabbers

He said that his father Nawab Masih and uncle Khurshid Masih once again purchased the land through auction for the graveyard by submitting the amount on 25-09-1984 when the government auctioned the said land. The complainant was of the view that some notorious land grabbers of the area, including Jameel and Saleem, s\o Abdul Ghafoor, had cut an old banyan tree in the graveyard and also demolished the graves established under the tree. “The land grabbers damaged the sanctity of graves by completely demolishing them and made an animal stable instead,” the complainant said. He also said that the local administration of the town is also backing the land grabbers. “The local administration started threatening me when I made a contact with the local Tehsildar Shafique Chisti, Patwari (land officer) Sanaullah and Kanoongo (Revenue Officer) Noor Muhammad. The land grabbers are doing all these activities with the connivance of these officers who are also threatening me instead of giving justice,” he said. The complainant requested Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to provide him justice, and also demanded to retrieve the encroached graves of his forefathers.