Sindh govt's plea for Rangers help to retrieve forest land rejected

ISLAMABAD: Questioning the Sindh government’s claims of having retrieved 1,863 acres encroached forest land, the Supreme Court directed it to submit a map showing the land, ARY News reported.

An apex court bench was seized with the hearing of a case pertaining to encroachments on forest land in Sindh.

The bench rejected the government’s report stating that it has removed encroachments from 1,863 acres of forest land.

“We will have the report verified by a district and sessions judge,” the judges observed, expressing suspicion whether or not the government has recovered the land in question.

“Did the government retrieve the land overnight by using a magic wand,” asked the bench, warning that the government will have to face consequences for making any false statement.

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Was the land sold out on the directives of the Sindh chief minister, asked Justice Faisal Arab, a member of the bench, to which a forest department official replied no land was sold out.

“Every inch of encroached forest land will be retrieved,” the court ruled. It turned down a plea by the Sindh government seeking directives for the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh to provide assistance in retrieving forest land.

The case was put off for three weeks.