PESHAWAR: Over 3,300 people have approached police in the provincial capital over the last seven months against land grabbers and rivals in property and financial disputes, officials said on Friday.
The cops, the officials said, started receiving complaints after actions against land mafia and other gangs operating in Peshawar for the last many years. Police in other regions and districts have also been ordered to develop a system to handle such complaints in land and financial disputes and take action against mafias and other criminals.
They said that the police have received 3,356 applications against land mafias, criminals, rivals, partners, and other individuals involved in financial, property, and family disputes since the last week of August last year.
“The Capital City Police has received 1143 applications regarding land disputes, while 1044 people have approached the force for settling their financial disputes,” Capital City Police Officer Dr Mian Saeed Ahmad told The News.
He said 366 applications were received in family disputes, while 803 people approached the force in various other kinds of disputes. Among the six divisions of the Peshawar Police, the Cantt division has received the highest number of applications - 927- in these disputes, followed by 748 in Faqirabad, 735 in Rural, 428 in Saddar, 270 in Warsak, and 248 in the City division.
A number of people approached the offices of the capital city police officer and Senior Superintendent of Police, operations, Farhan Khan since the cops carried out actions against mafias involved in grabbing land and depriving innocent people of a huge amount of money.
Apart from applications against mafias and criminals, there are also complaints against relatives, partners, and other people.“As many as 795 cases of land disputes have been addressed so far, and over 31,000 marlas of land have been handed over to the real owners from the land mafia and other people after a proper probe in these cases,” said Mian Saeed.
Besides, the police officials said, an amount of Rs 1.706 billion has been returned to the real owners in different parts of Peshawar in financial disputes in the last seven months. “As many as 315 family disputes and 632 cases of various nature have also been settled in seven months,” said an official.
These figures do not include cases settled by the dispute resolution councils. People have been asked to approach CCPO and SSP Operations Farhan Khan against the land mafia and other influential individuals who grabbed their properties or money over the last many years.
Police chiefs in other districts have also received such applications in the last few months. Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed said the officers have been directed to address the issue properly when any complainant approaches the police in such cases.
“There used to be hundreds of applicants approaching the police on Monday and Thursday at the police lines after hundreds of cases had already been worked out,” an official informed. The official said regular follow-up of all these applications has been ordered to ensure that progress is made in the right direction in all such cases. A desk is also being established to set up a permanent mechanism for handling such complaints in the coming years, as well as to ensure regular follow-up of cases while keeping a check on any wrongdoing or negligence by junior officers.
“Hundreds of these applications have been sent to the concerned SPs, DSPs, and Station House Officers in Peshawar over the last seven months to properly probe the cases and take action to ensure justice,” said SSP Farhan Khan.
In some cases, there were complaints that junior officers, from SPs to SHOs, are not showing the same level of commitment as senior officers in addressing these issues. There were also complaints that staff at police stations and offices sometimes take sides with one party or the other for their own interests.
Many have asked senior officials to keep a check on such DSPs, SHOs, and police station staff in all these cases, and even to question both parties after a settlement to ensure that no officer is involved in wrongdoing or favouritism.
Police in Peshawar launched a major crackdown on criminals involved in land grabbing and harassing the public a couple of months ago.“Many of those who challenged the writ of the state and pointed guns at the police have been killed, several have been arrested, while others have fled to avoid strict action by the police in the provincial capital,” said an official.Several DSPs and SHOs were removed and many were served with show-cause notices for not performing well against the mafias and criminals over the last many months.
