HYDERABAD: Twenty associates of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Malik Asad Sikandar were booked in a land grabbing and harassment case by the Jamshoro police on Saturday evening.

The FIR (125/17) was registered under Sections 147, 148, 149, 447, 504 and 506/2 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of Koro Khan Mastoi, who stated that his 100 acres of barren land in Deh Moro Jabal was forcibly occupied by the suspects, who dislodged him from the land at gunpoint and were threatening him with dire consequences.

Those nominated in the FIR are Arbab Ali Samoon, Mohammad Amin Babbar, Raza Pathan, Jan Mohammad alias Jano Rajar, Ali Mohammad Rajar and 15 other unidentified suspects.

MPA Sikandar Shoro accused of being behind the action

PPP MPA from Jamshoro Faqeer Dad Khoso, who is a close associate of MNA Malik, speaking to local reporters, said that Arbab Samoon was implicated in a false case “at the instance of [another PPP MPA] Dr Sikandar Shoro”.

Deh Moro Jabal is situated off Indus Highway after crossing the Thermal Power House. “Since Arbab Samoon is a supporter of Malik Asad Sikandar and has obtained a stay [from a court of law] in the matter of his private housing scheme, he has been named in the FIR,” MPA Khoso claimed.

He said the population of the area where the 100-acre land was situated included the Rajar community and the area fell in his constituency. “The documents of the land’s ownership possessed by the complainant are questionable,” he claimed.

Arbab Samoon is among the five builders whose suits against the demolition of structures on their housing schemes by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) was dismissed by a lower court of Kotri on Friday. He and another builder obtained a restraining order against possible demolition from the Kotri sessions court the next day.

Associates and supporters of Malik Asad Sikandar and MPA Faqeer Dad Khoso gather at the site of Arbab Samoon’s housing scheme almost daily to resist the SBCA demolition drive.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2017