HARIPUR:
The land dispute near Khanpur Dam involving a public park escalated between the landowners and Khanpur Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA), with women joining the protesters on Thursday.
According to protesters, the case is currently under hearing in a superior court, and no official action could be permitted on the site. After negotiations with the administration, the situation calmed down.
Sources said that tensions intensified when the Khanpur TMA brought heavy machinery to the site to mark the land designated for the park. However, the landown Khanpur Dam Land Dispute Escalates, Women Join Protesters prevented the TMA officials from carrying out any work. As the machinery arrived, a large number of local women also gathered on-site alongside men to protest.
The landowners claimed they have obtained a stay order from the Abbottabad Bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) that prevents the TMA from proceeding. They asserted that even if the TMA proceeds, it would be illegal.
Speaking to the media, TMA Khanpur’s Tehsil Municipal Officer (TMO), Ayesha Tahira, stated that if the PHC has issued any stay order or injunction to the landowners, they should present it. She added that the TMA has not yet received any official court orders regarding this matter.
Later, Haripur DSP Arif Khan held negotiations with both the TMA officials and the protesting parties and successfully persuaded both sides to agree to complete the demarcation of the land designated for the park.
He also assured that if PHC or any other court issues a stay order, the TMA will comply fully.
An agreement was finally reached amicably, averting what had become a highly tense situation with the risk of confrontation.
The landowners maintain that the district administration is acting unjustly by trying to include their ancestral and inhabited lands in the public park illegally.
