Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim said on Friday at a press conference in his Sindh Assembly Chamber after the adjournment of the session that Juma Khan Goth was not an 'authorised' village, and had been under illegal occupation of Afghanis in Karachi.
The chief minister in clear terms said that there should not be any misunderstanding about the people who were ejected from the Juma Khan Goth. "They were not Sindhis", he added.
He said he had set up a five-member parliamentary committee comprising non-Urdu speaking members who looked into the matter. "I myself was also in touch with the committee." The committee members included Minister Irfanullah Marwat, Manzoor Panhwar, Nadir Akmal Leghari, Adviser Ejaz Shah Shirazi and Member of Land Utilisation Department Khalid Soomro.
He said that the City District Government Karachi had taken action against land grabbers and got vacated government property worth millions of rupees.
Sindh Finance Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed, Nadir Akmal Leghari, Irfanullah Marwat, other ministers and MPAs were also present at the press conference.
The CM said that the findings of the committee showed that the encroachers were all Afghanis and part of the 'land grabbing mafia' operating in the city. All settlers were also illegal Afghanis, he added.
He said that officially there were only 803 recognised villages, out of which 403 had been regularised. He said that the opposition was politicising the issue as that of 'locals and non-locals'. "This is bad politics," he added.
He said that criminals from other places were establishing their dens in Karachi, which included establishment of 'kutchi abadis'.
He said that the CDGK had removed encroachments from Hyderi, Liaquatabad, New Karachi, Sadder and other parts of Karachi. All these encroachers were Urdu-speaking.
Earlier, when the Sindh Assembly session began, the opposition created an uproar in the House and obstructed Sindh Chief Minister who wanted to give the policy statement on removal of encroachments in Karachi. Speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah was in the chair.
Soon after the session began the speaker announced that the Question Hour was over and the chief minister would give a policy statement under Rule 215 of the Rules of Procedure.
Leader of Opposition Nisar Ahmed Khuhro objected to this and asked for speakers' permission to speak on a point of order.
Joining him, many other opposition MPAs asked the speaker to grant them permission to speak on point of order, but he did not permit. However, he assured them that he would give them chance to speak after the CM had given the policy statement.
The House did not respond to his request, and finding no other solution to this situation the speaker adjourned the session, to meet again on Monday at 9 am.
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