LDA demolishes illegal under-construction ‘mosque’

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Occupants’ ‘court orders’ proven false after LDA raid

* Green Town police registers case against 50 people, arrests seven of them

* LDA officials, policemen deputed to maintain law and order in aream

Staff Report

LAHORE: A team of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), along with a large police contingent, demolished an illegal structure that was being built on land occupied by members of a jihadi organisation after the publication of a report in Daily Times on Sunday.

The structure was being built on two adjacent plots, 327-2-C-II and 310-2-C-II, in Green Town and the illegal occupants had threatened to kill any resident over charges of blasphemy against the holy Quran if any of them tried to resist the move.

However, a leader of the occupants, Imtesam Elahi Zaheer, had told Daily Times that they had obtained court orders to build the mosque on the plots, which were later proven forged after the LDA raided and demolished the half-built structure and rounded up around a dozen activists of the organisation.

Case: However, on the other hand, the Green Town police has registered a case against 50 people and also arrested seven of them, who were later identified. The arrested people were busy constructing the illegal structure.

The investigator, Sub-Inspector Maqsood, told Daily Times that the police registered a case against 50 unidentified people from the religious organisation on the complaint of an estate officer of Green Town, Shahid Hameed, and arrested seven activists on the spot.

The accused were later identified as Shoaib, a resident of Kasur, Yasir, a resident of Township, Dr Shahbaz Sheikh, a resident of Garden Town, Hafiz Faiz, a resident of Shahdara, Maqbool, a resident of Pattoki, Iqbal, a resident of Manga Mandi, and Majid, a resident of Green Town.

The sub-inspector said that during the initial investigation, the arrested men had stated that that they were just passing by the site and did not know anything. They also stated that they had no links to the “jihadi organisation” and they were peace-loving citizens.

He said the police was investigating different aspects of the case and trying to figure out the people who were supporting the occupants. However, residents of the area appreciated Daily Times for its timely report on the incident, which led the LDA and police to stop the illegal construction of a building.

Law and order: However, until the filing of this report, LDA officials and personnel of the Lahore police had been deputed at the spot to maintain law and order in the area. But the residents kept chanting slogans in favour of the LDA and the police for saving them from the “extremists”, who were trying to construct a building after occupying a piece of public land.