Apex court orders return of land to Swat resident

Apex court orders return of land to Swat resident

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(5 hours ago) Today

Supreme Court of Pakistan. – File Photo

ISLAMBAD: The Supreme Court ordered authorities on Monday to ensure return of ancestral cultivable agriculture lands to a resident of Swat which were taken away from him, ostensibly by military authorities, after branding him a terrorist when they launched the Operation Rah-i-Rast against Taliban in the picturesque valley.
Headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the Supreme Court had taken up a petition of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, seeking return of his gardens, ancestral homes and lands he had left behind as an internally displaced person (IDP).
On Jan 12, the Supreme Court had ordered the defence secretary to furnish evidence whether the petitioner was really a terrorist and under which case he was wanted by military authorities.
The Supreme Court ordered that no institution would interfere in the return of possession of lands to Ghaffar Khan whereas the District Revenue Officer of Swat was ordered to submit a report to the Supreme Court on the next date of hearing (Jan 27) that the court’s directions had been complied with. Advocate Sanaullah Zahid, representing Ghaffar Khan, told Dawn that the Supreme Court also took exception to the appearance of a section officer of the defence ministry without any report.
This meant, the Supreme Court observed, that the defence ministry had nothing to justify allegations levelled against the petitioner.
According to the petitioner, who belongs to the local brotherhood of “Khan Koori”, he owned 500 kanals of agriculture land and gardens in the revenue estate of Kota, Tehsil Barikot in Swat district.
The lands include 3,000 peach, apricot and plum trees.
The petitioner had claimed that neither he nor his family members were permitted to enter their house, look after their property, conduct their business, carry out cultivation activities or maintain their fruit trees.
To prove his credentials as a patriotic and peace-loving citizen, the petitioner said he had served as incharge of a check post called Lunda-ki in Swat for 18 years. Later, he said, he had joined the local chapter of the Jamaat-i-Islami as its chief and also became president of the Kissan Board in Swat district. He was also elected twice as member of the union council and later elected as chairman of union council, Moosa Khel.
His younger son, Fawad Ali, is a doctor by profession and is running a hospital owned by an NGO, “Islamic Relief International” in Bagh area of Azad Kashmir, for charity purposes, the petition said, adding that the younger brother of the petitioner was a doctor, too. He had graduated from King Edward Medical College (now university), Lahore.
His entire family, including women, took part in relief activities for victims of the 2005 earthquake in AJK, he said.
People of Swat had to leave their homes and businesses after security forces launchd the Rah-i-Raast operation, the petitioner recalled, adding that he also had to leave with his family and got registered as IDPs with the chief Commissioner for Afghan Refugees, in Peshawar.
Although most of the IDPs had returned home, the petitioner said he and his family were being denied the right to enter their ancestral place.
The apparent reason, the petitioner said, was that the brother-in-law of his son, Mohammad Saleem, known as Commander Younus, was wanted by security forces for anti-state activities.