TIMES REPORT
CHAKDARA: Descendants of renowned freedom fighter Ghazi Umra Khan have demanded the immediate restoration of their ancestral properties in Jandol, Lower Dir, claiming ownership of more than 250,000 acres of land spread across different areas of the region.
Addressing a joint press conference, residents of Batkhela, Ali Akbar Sial, Aminullah Khan, Bacha Hussain and Inamullah Khan claimed that they were descendants of Ghazi Umra Khan, who fought an armed struggle against British rule. They said the land in Jandol belonged to their forefathers and was the ancestral property of the Mast Khel tribe.
They alleged that despite the local people being aware of their ownership claims, various individuals had illegally occupied the land, while government buildings had also been constructed on parts of the property.
The claimants said that following the abolition of the Dir State, a government-appointed commission in 1972 had wrongly declared all properties belonging to Ghazi Umra Khan as government-owned.
They further claimed that in January 2022, a two-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ruled in their favour. However, they regretted that despite the court’s decision, their ancestral property had not yet been handed over to them.
They urged Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi, Malakand Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner Lower Dir to ensure implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision and restore their claimed ancestral properties without further delay.
Note: The ownership and court-decision claims are attributed to the speakers at the press conference.
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