LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Sat­ur­day placed the names of two lawmakers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on the Exit Control List (ECL) and ordered the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to immediately take over any piece of land found to have been grabbed by them.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing multiple cases at the Lahore registry of the apex court when he took suo motu notice of complaints filed against Malik Afzal Khokhar and Saiful Mulook Khokhar by some women and overseas Pakistanis about illegal occupation of their properties by the duo in Johar Town and Township.

Police ensured their appearance before the court within an hour.

Khokhar brothers asked to submit details of their properties

However, MNA Afzal and MPA Saif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz rejected the allegations and maintained that they had never grabbed even an inch of land. They stuck to their stance even after the chief justice warned them that they could lose their assembly memberships if found involved in land grabbing.

When asked by the court, MPA Saif said his house was constructed on 16 kanals. The chief justice directed both the brothers to submit within a day complete details of properties owned by them and their families.

Chief Justice Nisar further ordered them to immediately vacate any properties they possessed illegally otherwise the court will get them recovered. “Everybody knows that I fulfil my commitments,” he added.

He directed Sadar division Superinten­dent of Police (Operations) Ali Raza to receive complaints from people against the Khokhars and submit a report by Dec 22. He also directed the police officer to trace whereabouts of property dealer Ashraf Shah, who was allegedly involved in land grabbing along with the Khokhars. However, the Khokhar brothers denied any knowledge of Shah.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2018