ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on May 15 a case relating to illegal allotment of Waqf property attached with the shrine of Hazrat Baba Fariduddin Masud Ganj Shakar in Pakpattan.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Munib Akhtar will hear the case.

The court has issued notices to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Dewan of Pakpattan shrine and the attorney general for the purpose.

Former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar had constituted a joint investigation team (JIT), headed by Hussain Asghar, to probe the matter.

In its report, the JIT recommended initiation of criminal proceedings against some people, including then Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif who had in 1986 ordered withdrawal of a notification of Dec 17, 1969, and allegedly allotted huge lands of Auqaf around Pakpattan to Dewan Ghulam Qutab in violation of a Lahore High Court order.

The JIT also recommended criminal proceedings against former secretary to the Punjab CM Syed Javed Iqbal Bukhari, legal heirs of Dewan Ghulam Qutabuddin, Sajjada Nasheen Darbar, assistant administrator of the Auqaf department posted in Pakpattan between Dec 17, 1969, and Aug 28, 1986, and other relevant officials of the Auqaf department.

The report also recommended criminal proceedings against patwaris/circle revenue officers and other relevant officers of the area where these irregularities and illegalities had been committed.

Subsequently, the court ordered the former prime minister and the Punjab government to furnish their respective comments on the report.

On Dec 4, 2018, the former prime minister had appeared before the Supreme Court to answer allegations and clear his position about the allotment of 14,394 kanals of the Waqf property attached with the shrine.

In response to the JIT report, Mr Sharif alleged that Mr Asghar implicated him in the case by completely ignoring the fact that particulars of the notification as mentioned in the summary alleged to have been originated from the CM office did not tally with particulars of the notification that was actually withdrawn by the Auqaf department. Thus, as a matter of fact, no order or summary originating from the then CM’s office bears the reference number or date of the notification as claimed by the JIT.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2019