Government figures reveal 1.9 million acres or four million jeribs (*) of land have been usurped by powerful land mafia. The government is silent. A look at four provinces.
Government figures reveal 1.9 million acres or four million jeribs (*) of land have been usurped by powerful land mafia. The government is silent. A look at four provinces.Rampant land grabbing has become a serious problem in Afghanistan. Extortion and illegal transfers of both public and private land by the land mafia remain unchecked. Dr Azizullah Ludin of the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption (HOOAC) says 16,308 acres of land have been usurped in the first six months of this year. New towns have been constructed on these lands, he alleges.
Ghazni
Early this year a report by the Provincial Assembly of Ghazni estimated 9,884 acres had been taken away by powerful land grabbers. Abdul Jami Jami, the deputy head of the assembly, who shared the report with Killid, said the usurped land was resold to people at very high prices.
Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the assistant governor of Ghazni province, claimed the government was trying to get back the land from the land mafia.
According to Abdul Razaq Azizi, the head of the justice department in Ghazni, merely 10 percent of the occupied lands have been returned. The mafia has tampered with the deeds and documents, taking over vast public lands, some of it used for underground canals for irrigation. That apart common lands that were graveyards, historical sites and shrines have been taken over.
How can public land be saved from the land mafia?
Sultan Husain Abasyar, the head of the agriculture department in Ghazni told Killid in an interview that the only way out would be to redistribute public land among ordinary people. It would be hard for the land mafia to take it away from villagers who would fight to protect what is theirs.
Member of the Ghazni Provincial Assembly Hamida Gulestani blames the power of the land mafia on the weakness of the government. She said the laws are not implemented, and the power of the land grabbers is not curtailed.
Herat
In Herat province 32,123 acres still remain in the hands of the land mafia. Faqir Ahmad Bayangar, the head of the provincial agriculture department, said 22,239 acres of land were taken back by the provincial authorities. Most of it was land belonging to the Directorate of Hajj and Religious Affairs which has assets worth an estimated 30 million dollars. The land mafia controls the districts of Enjeel, Guzara, Ghurian, Zendajan and Chesht-e-Sharif.
Hajji Abdul Ghafoor, one of the leaders of the Alizai tribe in Shindand district, accuses Mohmmad Salim Taraki, the mayor of Herat, of being a land grabber. Ghafoor accuses Taraki of grabbing more than 3,000 jeribs north of Islam Qala road.
Hajji Abdul Ghafoor further says, “In early May 2005, a delegation of Enayatullah Kamal, deputy to the AG’s (attorney general) Office in administrative affairs, Abdul Rab Jamili, the head of the judging AG’s Office and Din Mohammad Quraishi, Interrogator of Directorate of Crimes Investigation, came to investigate the issue of land extortion in Herat. They called the lands located north of Islam Qala road the property of the government in the presence of the representative in Herat of the Cadaster (land and geology office).” He said the mayor, Taraki, did not have the required documents to prove he owned the land on which he had established a slaughter house for chicken.
On being questioned by Killid the mayor was emphatic. “We have the lands in control located in Rubat Paryan area based on the legal deed that is safe in the court achieve, I am ready to provide any required document. I have shown the document to whoever has asked because I have the legal deed.”
Afghanistan’s powerful Minister of Water and Energy Ismail Khan is being probed for illegal land acquisition by HOOAC headed by Dr Azizullah Ludin. The minister, who was the former governor of Herat, is accused of taking over lands that belonged to Majid Khan Zabuli which were handed over to the government under the terms of his will.
Nangarhar
Tribal elders of Mohmand have accused the governor of Nangarhar of appropriating 9,884 acres of land.
Addressing the press, they said the land in Rudat district was grabbed by the government. Hajji Jahanzeb, speaking on behalf of the tribal elders, said they discussed the issue with provincial governor, Gul Agha Sherzai, but there have been no results.
The governor’s spokesman, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, has rejected the allegations. “The land belongs to the government,” he insists. It was “given to a person called Shir Mohammad whose lands have been confiscated in Kabul by the government and the area of the land is 45 acres.”
Kabul
Former minister of commerce and industries Mohammad Ameen Farhang says the lands in Sheerpoor neighbourhood that were taken over by the land mafia have not been returned to the government. He is blunt. “We should not have any great expectation from the current government because it has done nothing more than establish commissions of enquiry in the past 10 years.”
Sheerpoor is of historical importance. The Council of Ministers decided that those who had occupied the land should pay 33,000 USD for every beswa (100 sq metres). The sum was reduced to 12,000 USD after a month. “But whether the fine has been paid to the government or not is not known,” says Farhang.
(*) In Afghanistan, 1 jerib equals 2000 square meters or 0.494 acre.
