MANSEHRA: Residents of Peer Rang Ghanool in Balakot Tehsil, whose land is being acquired for a new tourism zone, staged a rally on Friday to demand market-value compensation for their houses and property.
“We have been living here for centuries, and now the government wants to dislocate us in the guise of creating a tourism hub. We would only leave that alpine scenic masterpiece on earth when the government pays us the market prices of our land, houses and other property,” Mohammad Fayyaz told the protesters assembled outside the deputy commissioner’s office here.
The protesters, holding banners and placards, took out a rally from outside the press club and marched through Kutchehry Road and assembled outside the deputy commissioner’s office.
They raised slogans in support of their demands, refusing to be evacuated from their ancestral land on the highway at the throughway prices.
“The KP tourism department has recently completed its survey and the revenue department is in the process of acquiring the land, also including our ancestral houses and property, which we wouldn’t accept until our demands are first met,” Fayyaz said.
Another protester, Saqib Khan, said that they were holding protests outside the DC office so that he could communicate their grievance to the government and then proceed with the codal formalities.
“We have also planned an agitation and are going to hold a grand jirga in Ghanool to finalise our future strategy, but one thing is very clear that we wouldn’t evacuate our houses and property until the government first sits with us and accepts our demands,” he said.
