Parwan residents claim strongmen usurped their land

CHARIKAR (Pajhwok): A number of residents in this capital city of central Parwan say that large areas of their land have been usurped by a former jihadi commander in connivance with the governor’s son, but the defendants denied the allegation.

The residents say about 25 acres of their farmland in northern part of Moallemin Township in Charikar has been grabbed by Abdul Sattar Khairkhwah, aka Junda Khan, a former Jihadi commander, in collaboration with the son of the current governor, Fazluddin Ayar.

The protesting residents showed tax bills they paid to the government since 1302 solar year until the presidency of former president Hamid Karzai.

“Commander Junda Khan has usurped our lands. The governor’s son is complicit in this action,” Abdul Raqib, a resident of Hofian area said.

Another protestor, Mohammad Rajab, said that he inherited the usurped land from his forefathers and paid its taxes to the government until the leadership of Hamid Karzai.

A copy of a letter from the Urban Development and Land Authority of Parwan shows that 20 acres of land has been handed over to Khairkhwa aka Junda Khan after some evaluations by a team.

However, Gholam Mohammad Ghobar, who was appointed as the head of Urban Development and Land in Parwan around a year back, was unaware about the matter and said that he was yet to take full control of the organization.

But the protesters claimed that Khairkhwa and the son of Parwan governor had forged documents to claim the land’s ownership.

A woman protestor, who wished to go unnamed, said that the governor’s son and Junda Khan had jointly been involved in forgery of documents.

“There is no justice in this government, this is the government of strongmen, that is why we are protesting, these bribe-fed officials are not working according to the law,” another woman said.

However, Abdul Sattar Khairkhwah denied allegations of land grabbing, saying he had bought the land from grandfathers of those claiming that the land belonged to them.

“This land is registered as my property with the land authority, there is no forgery, anyone would claims its ownership, they can refer to the government,” he said.

Fazluddin Ayar, Parwan governor, also said, “I declare that if anyone proves my family members are engaged in this matter, I will kill myself, when the land authority confirms it and teams verify it then why a governor is blamed here.”

Some people in the past too had complained about land grabbing by powerful figures in Parwan province.

Mds/ma

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