ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a claim of three Lashari brothers that management of the Miani Sharif graveyard had encroached on their land, which should be restored to them.

Justice Qazi Muhammad Farooq, authoring the judgment for a three-judge bench, dismissed the petition for leave to appeal filed by Zoraish Lashari and his brothers.

The Lashari brothers had contended before the Supreme Court bench that the management committee of Miani Saheb had encroached upon six kanals of their private land by extending the graveyard.

They stated that the Board of Revenue on an earlier complaint had held that the six kanals belonged to the Lashari brothers, but despite various courses adopted by them, the land could not be restored.

Counsel representing the management committee had informed the court that the so-called mutation deed of the land had not been found valid even by the Lahore High Court, according to which the brothers had sought relief under its writ jurisdiction.

He also informed the court that when the first claim was made by the petitioners, one of their brothers was in the office of the deputy commissioner, and now the same person was among the petitioners.

The Supreme Court accepted the plea that the so-called claim on the land by the Lashari Brothers was the result of a hidden hand. “The omission leads to an irresistible conclusion that the so-called modification in the area of Khasra No9945/6596 was made by a hidden hand and not by the authorities mentioned in the West Pakistan Graveyards (Preservation and Maintenance) Act, 1958.”

The Miani Saheb graveyard, which was once at a considerable distance from Lahore, has now been surrounded by new settlements.

Many famous politicians, lawyers, intellectuals and some heroes of the freedom fight are resting in the graveyard. It is believed to be the oldest and probably the largest cemetery in Pakistan.