Land grabbing: PTI MNA accused of desecrating ancient graves during hospital construction
Graves of that era are said to be still in existence. Some of those have caved due to lack of preservation, added the naib nazim. According to Khan, the land is marked as a graveyard in the revenue record of Patwar Circle.
Jadoon won NA-17 Abbottabad-I on a PTI ticket after defeating Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s senior leader Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan.
After winning the elections, he started using the land for meetings and last week, at a public gathering, announced he would construct a modern hospital on said piece of land, stated Khan.
Construction workers started levelling the land on Saturday, desecrating the graves, shared the former naib nazim. He pointed to remains of bodies which had been allegedly exposed during the excavation process.
Local elder Haji Muzaffar Khan maintained the land with ancient graves falls under the purview of The Antiquities Act 1975 and those violating it were punishable both under Islamic Law and the Criminal Procedures Code. Riasar Khan Jadoon, another local elder, threatened to use force to stop construction on the graveyard if the government failed to stop the MNA.
One of Jadoon’s associates, Dr Zaheer, told The Express Tribune the land which was being levelled has no graves.
MNA Jadoon brought the property from its owner a few years ago and was constructing a state-of-the-art hospital, said Zaheer. Turkic graves remained unharmed as they were far from the stretch of land which the hospital is going to be constructed on, he added.
Azhar Jadoon was not available for comments when contacted.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2013.
ABBOTABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA from Abbottabad, Dr Azhar Jadoon, has been accused of illegally occupying a graveyard and desecrating ancient graves in Dhamtor village on Nathiagali road.
At a news conference at the graveyard on Sunday, Dhamtor union council former naib nazim Pervez Khan claimed land measuring 63 kanals was earmarked for a graveyard. When the Turkic people were ruling Hazara and Kashmir in the 14th century, they buried their dead there.Graves of that era are said to be still in existence. Some of those have caved due to lack of preservation, added the naib nazim. According to Khan, the land is marked as a graveyard in the revenue record of Patwar Circle.
Jadoon won NA-17 Abbottabad-I on a PTI ticket after defeating Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s senior leader Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan.
After winning the elections, he started using the land for meetings and last week, at a public gathering, announced he would construct a modern hospital on said piece of land, stated Khan.
Construction workers started levelling the land on Saturday, desecrating the graves, shared the former naib nazim. He pointed to remains of bodies which had been allegedly exposed during the excavation process.
Local elder Haji Muzaffar Khan maintained the land with ancient graves falls under the purview of The Antiquities Act 1975 and those violating it were punishable both under Islamic Law and the Criminal Procedures Code. Riasar Khan Jadoon, another local elder, threatened to use force to stop construction on the graveyard if the government failed to stop the MNA.
One of Jadoon’s associates, Dr Zaheer, told The Express Tribune the land which was being levelled has no graves.
MNA Jadoon brought the property from its owner a few years ago and was constructing a state-of-the-art hospital, said Zaheer. Turkic graves remained unharmed as they were far from the stretch of land which the hospital is going to be constructed on, he added.
Azhar Jadoon was not available for comments when contacted.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2013.