Behsud residents protest land redistribution

JALALABAD (PAN): Hundreds of residents of the Behsud district of the eastern province of Nangarhar on Wednesday protested against the redistribution of land in Qasimabad town.

The protesters blocked the Kunar-Jalalabad highway in the Khyali Qala area of Behsud district for an hour, chanting slogans against the government.

“Our private land should not be distributed illegally among people. The government should come to the negotiating table with us,” a protester, Najibullah, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Another demonstrator said that all the land in Qasimabad belongs to the residents, but the government seized it illegally to redistribute it.

Abdul Naseer Kaker, the construction department head in the Jalalabad municipality, said that the protestors’ claims were baseless. He said the municipality and urban development ministry had made the redistribution plan six years ago, and it was passed by a council of ministers, he said.

He said if people had legal claims to the land, they could take their claims to court.

The government has begun to distribute 5,400 plots of land. 2,000 of these plots will go to people of the area.

Kaker said the protests are an effort to get more land.

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