On Sunday, the upper house of parliament or Masharano Jirga rejected a bill to curb and discourage land grabbing. It was no doubt rejected due to the some of the solid legal faults and shortcomings present in the bill but it once again gave rise to the voices as if land grabbing has gone totally out of the control of government.
After the democracy was restored and large number of foreigners and Afghans living abroad headed to the country and economic activities at once took a sharp flight, the value of land soared sharply. In such circumstances, having a house or land to rent emerged as the most profitable business when thousands of dollars were earned every month. This also gave rise to the trend of grabbing land in different parts of the country and in this connection; hundreds and thousands acres of land belonging to government and common public were grabbed. These lands were grabbed by tribal elders, warlords and important members of government. They were so strong that no one was able to stop them.
The internationally approved and funded mass project of New Kabul City by the name of Dehsabz is also suffering due to the same issues of land grabbing. Thousands of acres of land of the proposed project have been grabbed by some of the mafia lords and warlords who are so influential and strong that even government cannot do anything against them.
The land grabbing has also given birth to the present skirmish and war of words between the city municipal officer of Kabul and some of the members of parliament. In the same way, land grabbing often becomes a base of conflict between the members of government, ministers, landlords and similar strong and influential people who then attack each other with a number of excuses.
In this connection, not only government but large numbers of helpless people have lost their lands because they are not in position to do anything against those who have grabbed their land. This has also become a solid reason to so many internal conflicts and even bloodshed between the members of government, ministers, warlords and mafia lords.
The only problem lies in the inactiveness and helplessness of government to take action against the land grabbers because large numbers of government ministers or influential members are also involved in this and they would never let any action against their crimes. In the same way, it is also thought that large numbers of members of parliament are either directly or indirectly involved in these dirty but lucrative illegal activities. However, until and unless a government comprising of honest members doesn't come to power and take action against such crimes, the problem will remain the same and result in the wastage of the time and resources of public.