NWFP de-notifies military land acquisition

The government of NWFP Tuesday announced de-notification of the acquisition of land for Army Range in District Nowshera, saying the site is agricultural land with great potential for production of citrus and other fruits. This assurance was given by the NWFP Minister for Revenue, Habib-ur-Rehman Tanoli in response to a call attention notice moved by PPP legislator Baseer Ahmad Khattak in the NWFP Assembly.
Taking the floor on a call attention notice, Baseer Ahmad Khattak drew the attention of the house towards the acquisition of private 30,000 kanal of land for the army range in the district. In this connection, he said the District Revenue Officer (DRO) had also imposed section 4 in the area. The required land, he said covers agricultural land famous for citrus and other fruits.
Pervez Khan Khattak, Provincial Minister for Irrigation, who also hails from the district, told the house that the military had acquired 60,000 acres of land and the people are awaiting payments against for the last 80 years. He said that the DRO had once again imposed Section 4 in the area to acquire another 30,000 kanal land.
The land, he said belongs to different small landowners and they cultivate different crops on it. Furthermore, he said that the acquisition of the land would increase problems for the locals, including restriction on their movement in the name of security.
The military, he recalled had acquired 52000 acre land five years back on unbelievable price of Rs 200 to Rs 300 per acre as the land was already in the occupation of the security forces. In the new development, he said the military is acquiring 30,000 kanal land in Manki Sharif, Malazai, Bahadarkhel and Pirpai areas of the district.
On the demands of Provincial Minister, Pervez Khan Khattak and Baseer Ahmad Khattak, the provincial minister for Revenue, Habib-ur-Rehman Tanoli assured that the imposition of the Section 4 by the DRO Nowshera would be de-notified to stop the acquisition of the land by the military.
Earlier, on the suggestion of senior parliamentarian, Abdul Akbar Khan, the Speaker Kiramatullah Khan suspended Rule 52-E of the proceeding of the house to allow taking maximum number of Call Attention Notices during the entire session of the house. The house adopted the proposal with majority.
The chair also out-ruled the point of order of the Opposition Leader, Akram Khan Durrani for holding debate on the manifold increase in the incidents of kidnapping for ransom. He said that 25 to 30 people were being kidnapped weekly in the province.
He particularly drew the attention of the house towards the kidnapping of seven people from district Bannu only. Mr Durrani called for holding debate on the matter to get suitable proposals and suggestions of the members over the problem. He said that the deteriorating law and order situation had also forced the friendly People's Republic of China to divert the proposed Chinese Economic Zone from NWFP to Punjab.
The Senior Minister, Bashir Ahmad Bilour opposed the move and admitted that law and order situation has deteriorated in the province, saying they are making efforts for bringing improvement in the situation. He said that few days back the house had debated the matter for five consecutive days.
Sikandar Hayat Sherpao of PPP-Sherpao supported the leader of opposition, saying that the specific situation requires the debate. However, he said it should focus only on kidnapping for ransom. The chair read out Rule 71-C, which did not allow debate on the already debated matter. The government later withdrew two bills - Defence Housing Authority Bill, 2008 and North West Frontier Province Sarhad Development Authority Mineral Wing (Taking-Over) Bill, 2008.