Seraikis for revisiting 'villages razing policy'

SADIQABAD - The Seraikistan Youth Organisation said that the Punjab government's 'antagonism' towards the Seraikis had exposed in the wake of thousands of house demolitions in Daba Mai Sahiba, Rukanpur, Habib Kot and Chak 30/A Abbasia Liaqatpur areas of Rahim Yar Khan. "The provincial government's policy of houses' demolition in Seraiki villages is unendurable and condemnable," Organisation Central President Hassan Muavia Baloch Advocate warned while talking to the media on the district courts premises. "A month ago, the government demolished the houses in Chak 30/A Abbasia Liaqatpur in the guise of retrieving land from grabbers or encroachers. Now it is expanding the circle of house demolition." The advocate said that the issuance of notices to the residents of Khanpur and orders to forcibly raze the houses in Habib Kot were not only unbearable but also deplorable. He explained that the residents had been residing in theses villages for at least 25 years by spending hundreds of thousands of rupees on their respective houses, mosques and schools, terming the act of demolition state terrorism. He added that the inhabitants had started residing in Habib Kot as their houses were washed away in river water and the areas became a part of the river. The lawyer also raised a voice against the allotment of Chaulistan land, saying that the provincial government was yet to be held accountable for the alleged distribution of lands in the PML-N's blue-eyed persons. The youth leader warned that the inhabitants would offer resistance if the government implemented the demolition orders of the houses, saying, "We will sacrifice our lives to protect our houses." Later, he demanded that Prime Minister Gilani should take notice of the situation and issue appropriate directives to the Punjab government in this respect. Simultaneously, there is a demand for swift measures to curb loadshedding and to strengthen existing river banks to protect the people from any flooding. On the other hand, Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif has formed a 15-member party committee to formulate suggestions relating to demand for new provinces. Moreover, the Punjab government in this year's budget has given considerable increase to budgetary allocations for the development of southern Punjab. The chief minister has also started mobile hospitals in the region. A 40 percent share has been earmarked for the people from the south in the provincial government's yellow cab scheme.

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