Land dispute puts Hairatan traders in trouble

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): A dispute between the Land Authority and the 209 Shaheen Military Corps over ownership of a land has disturbed trade activities at the Hairatan dry port in northern Balkh province.

The military corps, who claims owning more than 4500 acres of land at the dry port, has given on lease 1250 acres of the land to traders for doing businesses.

But the Land Authority in Balkh says the Shaheen Military Corps has no right to give on lease the government land.

Officials of the Hairatan township say if the dispute is not resolved it could threaten trade activity at the dry port.

Traders at the port told reporters on Sunday that they had to answer to both the military and the land department about taxes.

Deputy head of the Traders Union at the port, Mohammad Nadir Safi, told Pajhwok Afghan News that problems at the port could negatively impact trade activity.

Trader Mir Ahmad told Pajhwok Afghan News the government should resolve the issue between its organs and let businessmen do their job.

“We respect the law and ready to pay taxes to a single government department,” he said, adding that trade at the port had been lukewarm over the past two years due to the dispute.

Hairatan township director Abdul Rahim Amiri told a protest gathering of traders that the Shaheen Military Corps had usurped the land measuring 1250 acres at the port under various pretexts.

He said if the problem was not resolved; it could lead to a complete suspension of trade activity at the port.

Land Authority head in Balkh Sher Shah Hotak said the Shaheen Military owned nothing at the port and it should stop giving the port land to traders on contracts.

But a deputy spokesman for the corps, Nasratullah Jamshidi, said the land belonged to the Ministry of Defence. He said the military owned 4500 acres of land at the port and had given some part of it to traders for doing businesses.

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