Dozens of staff members of a private housing society owned by a known property tycoon cum politician have allegedly attacked Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) officials, leaving several injured, as per the first information report (FIR) registered against the owner and other accused with Chung Police Station.
The incident is linked to the high-profile personalities of different political parties currently at war and likely to open fresh Pandora’s boxes of events in coming days. The Ravi City project is a multi-billion-dollar initiative launched in Lahore during the tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-the former ruling party. The RUDA was established in July 2020 to oversee the creation of a new city in Ravi River spanning over 45 kilometers. The project is proposed at the area of over 102,000 acres for which authority is in process to acquire the land from farmers and different stockholders.
RUDA administration on Tuesday lodged the FIR against the owner of the society, two known and around 200 unknown suspects under different charges of Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act. Its spokesperson Sher Afzal Butt said Aleem Khan owned the society three kilometers from Thoker Niaz Baig at main Multan Road. He claimed Park View Society had illegally constructed walls after encroaching over 20 kanals land of the Ravi City. Talking to MinuteMirror, he said that prior to action, authority had served three legal notices to the society administration to remove the walls but society administration kept on illegally occupying the government land.
“Illegal construction was creating hurdles in the development of the project,” Butt stated, adding that notices had been served to all illegal occupants while operation will be continued against the societies and other illegally occupied Ravi City’s land.
MinuteMirror made frequent efforts to contact Aleem Khan and sent him messages but he did not reply. His spokesperson Gohar Aziz, however, said they would later issue a statement on the incident which was not received till the filing of the story.
Aleem Khan is dissident of the PTI which currently ruling Punjab and remained close to former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan for years before parting ways with the former in initial months of 2022. However, a ‘cold war’ purportedly caused between two on several issues. PTI chief’s former chief staff officer Shahbaz Gill in an interview alleged that Aleem had acquired 300 acres of riverbed property and pressurized LDA to legalize the land. Gill had said that there were several other issues where PTI’s manifesto and Aleem Khan’s business were contradicting each other.
According to FIR, RUDA officials alleged that authority had served legal notices to the owners of the Park View Society over illegal constructions within the area designated for Ravi City but society owners remained didn’t act on them. “For implementation of the RUDA Act, a letter was also written to the Lahore Deputy Commissioner.”
FIR further read that on September 27 (yesterday) RUDA officials along with Assistant Commissioner City Muhammad Murtaza, Naib Tehsildar Haseeb and others carried on operation against the illegal construction. “After operation when they were on their way back, security guards of RUDA stopped on them and abducted them forcibly,” read the FIR and continued that two of employees of the said society; Mubashar and Iran along with a mob of 150/200 armed persons attacked while firing on them started beating government officials with sticks and rods.
Meanwhile, a situation of huge fear and harassment was created in the area. RUDA in its FIR alleged that the mob snatched mobile phones and valets of several officials worth Rs700,00 and also kidnapped them. “RUDA officials Jazib Nawaz, Zubair Alamgir, drivers Imran, Nauroz Khan, Azam, security guards Farasat Ali and Imran, assistant manager Imran, and manager Kanwal were injured during the murder attempt on them,” stated the FIR, adding that all injured were admitted to the hospital for medicolegal examination. This has been alleged in FIR that the attack on RUDA officials was held on the instigation of society owners and administration. Police registered FIR under the charges of PPC 353, 186, 324, 440, 109, 382, 148, 149 and 7-ATA.
