HARIPUR: The office-bearers of Anjuman-i-Ahrtiyan of fruit and vegetable market here on Saturday threatened to block GT Road if their demand of implementing court order for stay was not implemented by the local police within next two days.

Leading over 30 businessmen, president of Anjuman Ahrtiyan Said Ghafoor Khan told a press conference at the press club that they were regular tenants of former late Senator Akhtar Nawaz Khan since 1997 and had paid Rs15 million as advance against 42 shops where they had been running their fruit and vegetable business.

They said that after the murder of Akhtar Nawaz his family members asked them for renewing tenancy contract a few days ago and all the tenants of private fruit and vegetable market signed and handed over the contract to the heirs.

Mr Ghafoor said that this time the contract was for 15 years with an upward revision of monthly rent to Rs9,350 from the previous Rs6,500.

However, he said that a few days ago the front men of landowners asked them to either buy the property rights of each of shops for Rs15 million or vacate them.

The businessmen requested the owners to change their decision but they refused, forcing them to obtain stay order from a local court where May 23 was the next date of hearing.

He said that the court had asked the owners to desist from forced eviction of tenants. However, he lamented that despite the

court stay the owners had deployed armed men in the market who had been disallowing offloading of fruit and vegetables due to which their market was closed for the last four days.

He alleged that the local police was siding with the owners who belonged to politically influential family of Haripur.

He asked the district administration to allot them space for fruit and vegetable market and they would construct shops on their own.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2018