Pakpattan shrine land case: Nawaz illegally transferred land, SC told

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was Tuesday informed that Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had illegally transferred the Pakpattan shrine land in 1985 when he was the Punjab chief minister.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, heard the case that pertains to the transfer of 14,000 kanal land of Pakpattan shrine to Dewan Ghulam Qutab.

As the hearing went under way, Dr Hussain Asghar, head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed to probe the case, submitted the inquiry report, reports Geo News.

The report said Nawaz Sharif had illegally transferred the land.

“The first inquiry report submitted in 2015 held the then-chief minister responsible; however, in 2016 another report was prepared and the then provincial chief minister’s name was removed from it,” the JIT head informed the court.

At this, the chief justice remarked, “That time is now over. A third report will not be prepared.”

Dr Asghar further told the bench, “The land of Hujra Shah Muqeem and Hafiz Jamal shrine was also transferred by Nawaz during the same tenure.”

Justice Nisar added, “The lands of these shrines were allotted in 1986.”

The chief justice then asked under which law did then chief minister of Punjab take back the notification for the land which was donated. “How was the property that was donated sold?”

Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked, “The district judge and the high court had ordered that the notification of the donated land cannot be withdrawn. Then under which law was the notification withdrawn?”