Rawalpindi Under Seige

Dadhocha, Bharwala, Khanpur, Dhadhar Najaar, Mohra Wains villages close to Rawat industrial areais in Rawalpindi .

On January 3rd, 2021, the residents of the village Dadhocha gathered to protest against dispossession of the villagers from their village.

Local farmers and villagers said that the Punjab government and district administration had commenced construction of the dam without any settlement with the indigenous inhabitants or a resettlement plan

They were being offered a pitiful Rs. 5000 per marla for their agricultural land which was a fraction of their actual market value while the same agricultural land in the area under DHA’s possession was being valued by the latter at nearly 80 times that price.

The locals are being dispossessed of lands that were even beyond the limits of those demarcated for the dam, ostensibly for commercial purposes. Some residents spoke of how the adjacent DHA Valley had also occupied their ancestral lands despite the fact that a court had already ruled that it belonged to the villagers. They said that this occupation by DHA was preventing them from resettling their households in the nearby location.

The locals are not against dam construction to benefit Rawalpindi’s residents but said that it should not be done at the cost of the forced displacement of local inhabitants, who should instead be justly compensated and resettled within the area. The residents were not even sure if they could now bury their deceased loved ones in the local graveyard as that too would soon become submerged following the dam’s construction.

The residents of the affected villages are walking to construction site.

FWO had set up its camp. The locals called on-site officers to abide by court orders and not begin construction of the dam without reaching a just consensus-based settlement with the local residents.

The residents of the affected villages forced FWO to stop work on the site.

Residents of the village are having conversation with DC Rawalpindi.

The protestors vowed that if the construction doesn't stop they will organise a march to Islamabad.

The construction is on some distance from the villages, so many people brought their bikes

Locals have made watch towers to protect their communal lands from landgrabers

View of construction site of the Dadhocha dam