ISLAMABAD, March 18: A long-running dispute over a piece of land in Loi Bher, over which four cases have now been filed with the Koral police, has now led to charges against the local station house officer and Moharar. Both have been suspended from their positions by Bani Amin Khan, the inspector general of police.

Also included in the charges is the Cooperative Housing Society`s circular registrar. Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Amir Ali Ahmed has ordered an inquiry into the registrar`s alleged involvement in the `occupation` of the land, and has recommended departmental action. After a police request, the city administration took the disputed property into custody, sealing it until ownership is established `to avoid further incident.` The land in question is 800 kanals and the most recent complainant is Malik Ishrat, whose brother Malik Tabarak Bari is a land provider for the housing society.

According to Ishrat, the land was family property shared among his siblings, but on Friday morning, a group of people `raided and occupied` the land. Ishrat lodged a complaint with the Koral police at 10am, and the matter was forwarded to the SHO, but no action was taken.

When Ishrat finally managed to bring a group of policemen, including Koral`s duty officer, they arrested two of the group. The rest of the `occupiers` began firing at them with guns which injured two people but managed to draw the attention of local villagers, who `rounded up` nine of the attackers. Fifteen others, however, managed to escape.

Resenting both the attack on what he claims is his property and police inaction, Ishrat and other villagers blocked the expressway in a show of protest. Eventually, the superintendent and deputy superintendent of police arrived, promising that ac-tion would be taken. Cases have been registered against the SHO, the Cooperative Housing Society`s circular registrar, and his brother-in-law Mudasar Ali. Charges include PPC 148, which covers armed rioting; 149, which holds every member of an `unlawful assembly` guilty of offenses committed in pursuit of a common object; 324, which covers the attempt to commit gatl-iamd; and others.

Mudasar Ali has, however, filed a counter-FIR in the same police station, claiming that the Loi Bher land is the property of his own family, which, around three years ago, he transferred to the PWD Cooperative Housing Society. His statement claims that Malik Ishrat organised a group of `land grabbers,` who demanded Rs100 million.

Because Mudasar Ali could not produce that amount, they threatened to occupy his land.

Mudasar Ali`s complaint alleges that `Malik Ishrat`s outlaws ` raided his land on February 2 at which point he lodged a police complaint that was never entertained.

On the morning of March 17, he claims, the same group raided again, taking Ali`s employees hostage. This time, police responded and `rescued` the employees, but Malik Ishrat`s group arrived again in the afternoon, at 3.30, and then escaped once the polio arrived.

This group has been charged with some of the same offenses, including PPC 148 and 149, along with 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent to wrongfully confine a person).

The police have filed two of their own complaints in this matter, one dealing with the arrest of three people from whom rifles and pistols were recovered. The other case was registered in regards to the blockade of the expressway and the hostage-taking of nine people.