PESHAWAR: The Abbottabad Cantonment Board has reportedly decided to convert the empty land of the "Osama bin Laden compound" into a graveyard, it has been learnt.

Sources informed DawnNews that the decision was taken by cantonment board administration in a meeting following which the authorities started constructing a boundary wall around the compound located in Bilal town area of the garrison city.

Five years ago, elite United States forces shot and killed Osama bin Laden, ending a manhunt that began in earnest after his Al Qaeda operatives hijacked planes and flew them into buildings in New York and Washington in September 2001.

The source further said that the cantonment administration did not take the local district administration and the provincial government into confidence over the decision, as both the civil bodies were against the construction of graveyard at the said compound.

In May 2011, following the killing of Osama bin Laden in US raid, the then provincial government had razed the building constructed over an area of 3,530 square metres.

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The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government then took over the control of the land since it feared that the place might become a shrine for anti-state elements and their supporters.

Since then the compound was lying vacant and local children utilised it as a playground.

PTI-led KP government spokesperson Mushtaq Ghani, however, rejected the claim that the land is being converted into a graveyard.

Talking to DawNews, Ghani said various suggestions are under considerations regarding converting the land into playground, college or recreational park.

“The land is under provincial government’s control and the KP government will decide how to utilise the land for good,” he said.

Ghani said “the land is not suitable for graveyard as underground water level is high in that area”.

“The Abbottabad Cantonment’s administration has constructed boundary walls around the compound only to avoid encroachment,” he concluded.