KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction over a compliance report submitted by the defence secretary regarding removal of encroachments and commercial structures from lands belonging to the military lands department in Karachi and ordered that its directives on the matter be implemented in letter and spirit.

A two-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Justices Gulzar Ahmed and Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, resumed at its Karachi registry the implementation proceedings in a case about operation for removal of encroachments from amenity spaces across the metropolis, including the cantonment areas.

At the outset of the hearing, defence secretary retired Lt Gen Ikramul Haq along with attorney general Anwar Mansoor Khan filed a report regarding compliance of the court’s directives issued on Jan 22 for removal of commercial activities from land belonging to the military lands department across the city.

However, the bench members termed the report “unsatisfactory and an eyewash” and asked the defence secretary why all the directives contained in the order had not been complied with in letter and spirit.

AG, defence secretary told to end commercial activities from cantonment areas

Attorney General Khan informed the bench that apart from a couple of points all the directives in the order had been implemented in letter and spirit.

The head of the bench, Justice Ahmed, told them that the entire order remained to be implemented and asked why a large marriage hall on the Pakistan Air Force land and the Global Marquee wedding hall near the FTC building had not been demolished in compliance with the order.

Expressing dismay over the state of affairs, the judges said the defence ministry was not acting on court orders and wondered what the purpose of the Supreme Court was.

“Should the apex court be shut?,” asked Justice Ahmed while looking at the government’s top law officer and defence secretary, adding they needed to implement the court’s orders to first remove encroachments including the marriage halls and other commercial constructions from the cantonment areas in an anti-encroachment operation.

When asked whether the army had the authority to allot state land, Attorney General Khan maintained that the army was not a beneficiary of such moves.

Justice Ahmed noted that parks and playgrounds in the city had been taken over and named after martyrs. “Who knows maybe even I will become a martyr or be killed,” he said.

The attorney general said that although martyrs were afforded a high status, there were a number of conditions that must be fulfilled to become a martyr.

“Do you mean to say I will not be able to become a martyr?,” the judge remarked in a lighter mood and added “we were born to be martyred”.

Citing the example of Defence Housing Authority, the judge said that state land in Karachi had been handed over to private parties by the military.

The bench told the defence secretary to ensure that all the encroachments being used for commercial activities were removed from all the military lands across the city in compliance with the court order. It also instructed the director, Military Lands Karachi, to submit a compliance report to this effect by the next hearing.

The bench also expressed displeasure with the Pakistan International Airlines authorities for not demolishing a marriage hall being run on its land despite the order and told the officials concerned to demolish such marriage halls “right today”.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2019