ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday set aside the process initiated by the military authorities to auction 108 kanals earmarked for amenity purposes in Rawalpindi to generate funds for the new GHQ in Islamabad.

Accepting a petition filed by Advocate Mohammad Anwar Dar, the LHC Rawalpindi bench directed the Ministry of Defence – one of the respondents – to place the matter before the president of Pakistan. The court said the plot should be restored for educational purpose as sought in the petition in a period of six months.

The petitioner through his counsel Inamur Rahim Khawaja contended that the Punjab government had reserved the piece of land for educational institutions.

Army planned to sell the plot to generate funds for new GHQ

The petition was filed in the LHC in May 2009 after the Military Estate Office (MEO) advertised the auction of the land.

During the course of hearing, the defence ministry on June 26, 2009, informed the court that the land “is the property of the federal government (A-1 Land) and is included in the list of properties for disposal to generate funds for Defence Complex Islamabad (DCI) Project”.

In its response, the ministry asked: “As to how certain provincial governments and officials have been planning a degree college on Army land without seeking approval of the competent authority for utilisation of the said land.”

The plan to shift the GHQ from Rawalpindi to Islamabad was shelved around October 2008 to 2009 on the instructions of the then chief of army staff (COAS) Ashfaq Pervez Kayani due to financial constraints.

However, in June last year, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) revealed that the plan had been revived.

The CDA member planning had told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in June 2009 that the shifting of the GHQ would cost the civic agency over Rs4 billion.

The petitioner adopted before the LHC that the land belonged to the Punjab government and was transferred through mutation for amenities.

The petition said lower middle class citizens were living in the surrounding of the land and successive governments never utilised the land for the establishment of any educational and recreational facility for them.

It was a setback for the residents of the area, including the petitioner, when the military advertised the land for an auction.

The petitioner and other local residents approached the relevant quarters and requested them not to auction the land but to no avail.

The petition requested the court to direct the respondents not to auction the land. It also prayed the court to direct the respondents, including the secretary defence, MEO, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board, Punjab Board of Revenue and the secretary education Punjab to utilise the land only for the construction of an educational institution, hospital, playground, park or a community centre.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2018