By Saifullah Maftoon
A view of Ghazni. (Photo: PAN)
Local authorities in the southern province of Ghazni on Monday said about 75,000 acres of land had been illegal taken by warlords and powerful people.
Most of the warlords seized the land in Ghazni City, the provincial capital and some other districts, according to Abdul Jami Jami, the deputy head of the provincial council.
“They then sold the land at a higher price. The land is mostly grabbed by residents of Rauza, Sfanda, Kala Shada and Nawabad as well as by owners of Sultan Mahmood and Hakim Sanayee townships," he said.
Deputy Governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi also confirmed that warlords snatched land in several parts of the province and efforts were taken to retake the property from warlords.
"We are trying to recover all the seized land from the warlords," he said.
Ghazni municipality department officials also confirmed that land was taken illegally to build markets.
“We have not been able to recover a single acre of the 75,000 acres of land that were illegally acquired," he said.
About 2,000 acres of land were illegally occupied in Khanjar area of the city alone, the justice department head, Abdul Razaq Azizi, said.
Local people on the other hand do not trust local government would succeed in recovering these plots of land from the warlords.
According to resident Rafiullah, when the government could not retake the land from warlords when they were constructing markets and houses, it is not possible to do it now.
The land was not taken this year but eight years ago, he said.