Faisal Khawer Butt
Sialkot
The Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab on Information Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan on Sunday has said that on the directive from the Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar a strictly merit based campaign with no political influence was under way in entire province against the illegal land grabbers.
While talking to the media-men here, Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan further added that the operation was against those elements who had been using politics as a personal business in the past and had been using governmental land for illegal personal use.
She said that under the current Pakistan Tehrek e Insaf (PTI) government the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) had freed thousands of acres of the state-owned land worth more than Rs 181 billion from the illegal possession whereas the past governments of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had managed to release land worth Rs 2.6 billion only. The Special Assistant to CM Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan further accused that the ‘Royal family’(Sharif Family) had been backing the ‘land mafia’ in the past and more than 50 stalwarts of PML-N were involved in the land grabbing issues.
She further charged that the Sharif Family had grabbed 446 acres of land in Raiwind after 2013 and the issues was being investigated by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). She said that ACE had recovered 460 acres of land and more than Rs 3.42 billion from many PML-N leaders.
Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan also strongly criticized PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif had affected Punjab, which was the ‘food basket’ of the country, by encouraging the policy of constructing housing societies on rich agricultural lands. She viewed that the Sharif Family had ruthlessly looted the country by purchasing costly lands against lower prices and then reselling them after fraudulently changing their status from green to brown.
Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan blamed that the PML-N governments of the past had badly damaged agriculture-based economy of Punjab in order to make it as an industrial province and as a result now it was neither agricultural nor industrial. She said that the government of PTI was busy in promoting agriculture in Punjab apart from setting up 13 special economic zones in the province.
Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan also charged that most of the Sialkot based leaders of PML-N too were involved in making money by looting the common people. She accused that Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) of PML-N Rana Liaqat Liaqat had been involved in constructing five illegal housing societies whereas MPA Ch Arshad Warriach had grabbed 12 Kanals of land owned by the Irrigation Department and then sold out as plots.
She further accused that Hina Arshad Warriach (daughter of MPA Ch Arshad Warriach) as chairperson District Council had unlawfully granted approval to the housing society owned by her father. She also accused another MPA of PML-N Ch Ikram from allegedly preparing fake documents in order to own a property of a deceased woman. Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan said that under the leadership of the Prime Minister Imran Khan, Usman Buzdar stood firm against land grabbing and all kind of corruption in Punjab. She vowed that the PTI government would recover all the looted wealth of the nation from corrupt rulers of the past.
