Following the three presentations, Iftikhar appeared disheartened.

“I need the business. I am losing money every day,” he said to the commission.

Ifitkhar also questionned why the permit was pushed back one hour only after he purchased the business nine months ago.

“When I bought this place, it had a license to 3 a.m.,” he said at yesterday’s hearing. “Does this have something to do with the students or something to do with me?”

According to Gifford, Iftikhar was duped by the previous owners when he purchased the property.

Tommy’s has a history of conflict with the licensing commission and nearby residents and was even forced to place a police detail in the shop between 2 and 3 a.m. a few years ago, Gifford said.

Iftikhar said he was unaware of these problems when he bought the pizzeria.

“He made a mistake to buy this without proper representation,” Gifford said. “They unloaded this on him with all these problems.”

After the licensing commission adjourned to deliberate until tomorrow at 10 a.m, Iftikhar walked slowly back to the pizzeria to cook and man the store until closing time.

Even as he confronts the possibility of leaving the Square, Iftikhar seemed a bit more excited as he described the market that opened yesterday morning, more than two months behind schedule.

Although the store is now stocked with a full supply of soda and candy bars, Iftikhar is waiting for a shipment of “handicrafts”—shawls and lamps from Pakistan.

But he said he wished he had never considered buying the pizzeria.

“Believe me, I have no clue what to do. I put all my heart and money into this,” he said. “It really looks like they want me to leave.”

—Staff writer Daniela J. Lamas can be reached at lamas@fas.harvard.edu.