Pakpattan Land Case: Anti-Corruption Department to record Sharif’s statement on July 30
Last updated on: 25 July,2019 07:38 pm
The department requested the jail authorities to let its officials to record Sharif's statement.
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Punjab Anti-Corruption on Thursday wrote a letter to Kot Lakhpat Jail Superintendent seeking permission to record statement of incarcerated former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif in case pertaining to Pakpattan Shrine Land Allotment Case.
The anti-corruption department has requested the jail authorities to let its officials to record the statement of the former prime minister in land allotment case on July 30.
It is pertinent here to mention that the JIT constituted to probe the Pakpattan shrine land case against deposed Nawaz Sharif had held him responsible for “illegally transferring” shrine land when he was the chief minister of Punjab in 1985.
Last year, on December 13, the top court constituted a JIT to probe the illegal transfer of 14,394 kanals of land belonging to the Auqaf Department in Pakpattan district.
Background
After the partition, Dewan Ghulam Qutab and his family used to be the ‘owners’ of the shrine’s land as per the revenue record from 1947 to 1958.
The family sold pieces of the land to different people until January 1, 1970, when the Punjab government notified the Auqaf Department as the rightful owner of the land and the Dewans the custodian of the shrine. Later, the Dewans moved the Lahore High Court but the case was decided against them.
In 1986, the government withdrew its 1970 notification and the Dewans reciprocated by withdrawing their appeal before the Lahore High Court against the decision.
With this, the Dewans resumed their land selling business and the Revenue Department issued ownership rights (fard) to all buyers.
In the meantime, a 1981 case regarding 17 marlas of land filed in a civil court reached the Supreme Court by 2015.
The apex court chief justice took suo motu of the land deals of the shrine and summoned officials of the Revenue and Auqaf departments and the Dewans.
After some hearings, the Supreme Court declared the notification of August 28, 1986, illegal and nullified all land deals done since then. The decision reportedly affected 100,000 residents of different localities.
The Dewans filed a review petition last year in defence of their right to sell the land with the Supreme Court against its 2015 decision, which remained pending since then.
Former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar, during his visit to the Baba Farid shrine in 2018, had promised justice in the case when dozens of the affected people raised slogans to get his attention towards their plight.