Govt launches massive operation against PML-N's Khokhars in Lahore.

LAHORE -- In a day-long operation, the Punjab government on Sunday demolished several structures around houses of the PML-N leaders MNA Afzal Khokhar and former MPA Saiful Malook Khokhar and their relatives near Johar Town, retrieving 38 kanal land from the 'illegal occupants'.

The PML-N sees the move as one of the extreme actions to punish those supporting the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

The structures razed during the operation included houses of Akmal Khokhar and Tahir Javaid (close relatives of Afzal Khokhar and Saiful Malook), a market, back walls and shanties temporarily made by the workers.

The team, headed by four assistant commissioners and police officers, arrested several people, including children, on charge of offering 'resistance'.

Claims retrieving 38 kanal from 'illegal occupants'; PML-N leaders term it victimisation for supporting PDM

'It was 5:30/6am. We all were sleeping. Suddenly, the government people barged into our premises and started asking us to immediately leave the area. But when our men asked the reason, they put many of them along with some children and girls into vehicles and took them to the police station,' a woman who was gathering articles of her shanty told Dawn after the operation that ended at around 4:40pm.

'They even put our goats into trucks. It was horrible,' she complained.

The operation started at 6am after a team accompanied by police officials reached the spot with heavy machinery. The police encircled the area and helped the team to complete the operation that continued for about 11 hours. A number of locals had gathered on the spot and witnessed the operation. However, none of the Khokhar brothers or their family members offered resistance to stop the operation.

'No one offered resistance despite the fact it was absolutely unlawful in presence of stay orders from the court. We did this to avert the possibility of any untoward event. They also razed our back gate and the passages,' an employee of the Khokhar brothers, who was at the site, told this reporter.

'They (the government) launched this action on Sunday so that no one could be able to approach the court. On Monday, the Khokhars plan to move the court,' he added.

According to city district administration, the team retrieved 38 kanal land from the illegal possession of the Khokhar brothers.

'The total worth of the land is about Rs1.25bn,' a spokesman for the administration said in a press release. He accused the Khokhar brothers...