Auqaf land still under illegal Occupation

Provincial Minister for Auqaf and Religious Affairs Haji Habib-ur-Rehman has admitted that precious property of 3669 kanal and 15 marla in district Mansehra had been occupied illegally due to lack of cooperation by district administration. He said this responding to a question of an opposition MPA Sardar Zahoor Ahmad of PMLN in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday.
In the written reply submitted to the house, Auqaf Department said that the total notified land of the department in district Mansehra was 5396 kanal, which was completely under the occupation of illegal occupants and since 2011, the department succeeded in taking only 313 kanal and 11 marla land into its possession. Out of the remaining land 42 kanal and 18 marla was under the occupation of the departments of health, education and forests, who constructed schools, basic health units (BHUs) and Forest Quarters on it while 180 kanal and 8 marla was registered with Revenue Department in the name of different people since 1950. Similarly, 547 kanal and 10 marla was occupied by graveyards and mosques while the remaining 3669 kanal and 15 marla land was under the occupation of illegal occupants.
Auqaf Department has been making all out efforts to get land vacated but no progress was made so far. The written reply further says that the department formally contacted Commissioner Hazara Division but he too failed. Furthermore, the non-serious attitude of the district administration also resulted in the cancellation of the auction of these lands. Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha of the PML-N and Sardar Hussain Babak of the ANP also spoke onr the matter and asked the Speaker Asad Qaiser for giving ruling for the vacation of the occupied land.
Senior Minister, Inayatullah Khan said that all government properties which were under the occupation of private persons should be retrieved and he also supported the referral of the matter to the concerned committee of the KP Assembly. After the majority's verbal vote, the Speaker referred the matter to the concerned committee. Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly condemned terrorism in Lahore and offered fateha for the martyrs of the tragedy.