Families refuse to move from university site

Many residents have refused to move from a site in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar in protest after their homes were bulldozed to make way for a university. "We have been living here for the past 11 years and we have nowhere to go now," Haji Fazil Mohammad told IRIN. He now lives in a partly demolished house at the site in the Loyawala district of Kandahar. The demolition took place on 18 July and continued for some 10 hours, he said. Witnesses told IRIN that women and children were crying in desperation when the houses were demolished. Battered pieces of furniture were scattered around some 1,000 Jeribs (500 hectares) of land which had been reduced to rubble as many were unable to move their belongings in time. "People are now living under trees in tents and we are all in need of food and shelter," Mohammad pleaded. He said the local community was not informed of the demolition and that although compensation was offered, residents refused it, demanding the right to remain on the land instead. "We've been made homeless and this is a violation of our rights," he said. "We begged them not to do this when they came in and demolished the area," he maintained, saying that no one was taking responsibility for the destruction, leaving hundreds in a desperate state. Mohammad pointed out that according to Islamic Shariat law, anyone who occupied land for longer than 10 years had ownership. "We can’t believe the government has done this to us. We thought they were here to help us," he said. The local authorities, however, say they have allocated land in other areas for those who used to live at the site. "We have marked 800 plots in Mairwais Mena and Loyawala districts (of Kandahar) for these people," Deputy Mayor of Kandahar, Azizullah, told IRIN, adding that the land was government property. Denying allegations that residents were not informed of the demolition, he said: "Prior to the demolition we broadcast messages on the local television and radio stations informing people of our actions." Acknowledging a shortage of housing in the city, Azizullah said that the housing department had received some 10,000 applications from people in need of shelter and called on the international community to assist them with this. He added that the residents did not hold documents for the land and that it rightfully belonged to the local authorities. "The area has always been controlled by commanders. But there is now a legitimate government in place and we need to reallocate the land," he said. The university will accommodate up to 100,000 students and the project is to be funded by Japanese donors. However, aid workers told IRIN that donors had also expressed concern over the site that was chosen and the fact that the houses had been demolished to make way for the university. Meanwhile, the UN has sent a human rights adviser to the site to investigate the matter.