Daily Times

The residents of village Warwai have announced stiff resistance against any move by officials of the mining firms to forcibly evict them from their village.

Ahmed Amin Lanjo, Haji Sanaullah Rahimoon, and another villager along with the chairman of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Syed Mohammad Ali addressed the press conference in their village on Tuesday and vowed to resist any move by the officials of the mining firms engaged in the coal extraction in Block 1 of Thar Coalfields near Islamkot town.

They said that the executives of firms after erecting the fences around their village were now hurling threats at them to vacate their hearths and homes as soon as possible despite the fact almost all villagers were still to be given compensation for their houses and other structures. They said that officials had paid them half of the compensation some 14 months back and they asked them to wait for the next three days for the payment of the second installment which would still be paid.

“We entered into the written agreement that each married couple will be paid Rs 4.2 million,” they added and said that now officials instead of paying another installment were threatening them to vacate the entire village without paying their dues,” they said and made it clear that they would never leave the village even if they were paid off their remaining amount. The leaders of the villagers said that they were promised to get their compensation cheques within the next few days but after the lapse of over a year, they were yet to be paid by the executives and those who had struck the deal with them.”

The cost of everything has increased manifolds including the construction materials due to the steep rise in the prices and inflation so we will not agree to receive the remaining amount,” they said.