A Pakistani woman went viral on the internet after she lodged a complaint in a live question-and-answer session with Prime Minister Imran Khan that an influential tenant was neither paying outstanding rent nor leaving the house. Instead, he has resorted to threats. She has also called for reforms in the judicial system to help millions of people like her.
Ayesha Mazhar, a resident of Quetta and a single mother of a three-year-old, contacted the prime minister last Sunday and said the tenant had refused to vacate her house and was using his influence with the police to continue the occupation. She said outstanding rent had reached Rs450,000.
In a recent interview with Arab News, Mazhar said she was contacted immediately after talking to the premier. Police officials asked for her address and other details and promised to resolve the issue as soon as possible. “The next day I got the outstanding rental payments, and my problem was addressed,” she said.
She thanked the government but also called for institutional reforms. She said citizens should not have to call the prime minister every time they face such problems.
The house, located in the DHA Rahbar Housing Society of Lahore, was rented by Mazhar’s mother in 2019. The tenant, named Imran Asghar, turned out to be a brother of an SSP and after some time stopped paying rent. He also refused to vacate the house despite repeated demands from the owner.
The tenant also obtained a stay order from a court to prolong his stay indefinitely. Mazhar wondered how a court could release such orders, depriving the real owner of her house.
As a result, it became impossible for Mazhar to move to Lahore. “I am a divorcee with a three-year-old son. Can you imagine what it must be like for a woman to travel to a new city with no shelter?”
She said earlier she lodged a complaint with the police but to no avail. In fact, the tenant used abusive language against Mazhar at the police station and no official was able to stop him.
Meanwhile, Mazhar also has to take care of her mother, who was extremely disturbed by the situation and later got cancer. Mazhar sought help from various MNAs and media houses, but help did not come.
However, she appreciated former Lahore CCPO Umer Sheikh, who had got the house vacated from the tenant in December last year. However, Asghar refused to pay the rent for the last two years, which amounted to more than Rs450,000.
The incumbent Lahore CCPO Mahmood Dogar admits that the matter was a simple one but got mishandled. He said this happened because both parties went to the court, and “we were bound by its orders.”
In the phone call on Sunday, Mazhar told her two-year-long ordeal to the prime minister and asked for justice, which she got immediately.
“Due to the intervention of the IGP, the outstanding amount of Rs472,000 has been paid by the former tenant to the aggrieved lady Ayesha Mazhar,” the Punjab police department said in a statement posted on Twitter the next day.
“Furthermore, the civil case filed by accused Imran Asghar against Ms Ayesha Mazhar has also been withdrawn by him. The matter is completely resolved,” the police said.
Mazhar hoped that Prime Minister Imran Khan would try his best to introduce reforms to the police and judiciary so that the millions of people suffering from injustice get much-needed relief.
Leave a Reply