LAHORE: A civil court has issued notices to Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif and his niece Maryam Nawaz on a plaint accusing them of illegally occupying 4,000 kanal land in Jati Umra, Raiwind.

Plaintiff Dr Abdul Rauf alleged the land in question was his inherited property, which his forefathers had purchased in 1911 from the British government.

The plaintiff, who is a professor at a university, said he had got all the documents of the property to establish his claim. He alleged that the defendant had illegally occupied the land with the support of the government machinery since their party ruled Punjab province for long.

He asked the court to get the property evacuated from the alleged illegal possession of the defendants and hand it over to him. He also sought a direction for the defendants to pay him Rs50bn as rent for the period they kept the land in their possession.

Civil Judge Fauzia Saira issued notices to the defendants requiring them to join the next proceeding in person or through their counsel on Aug 20.

Last week, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had also summoned Maryam in an investigation relating to alleged illegal acquisition of 1,400 kanal land in Jati Umra.

It alleged the Sharif family had, in 2013, acquired around 3,568 kanals in connivance with a former DCO and an ex-DG of the Lahore Development Authority during the tenure of Shahbaz Sharif as chief minister.

Out of it, 1,936 kanals were allotted to the Sharif brothers’ mother Shamim Bibi, 96 kanals each to Nawaz and Shahbaz and 1,440 kanals to Maryam.

The Sharif family acquired this land adjacent to its Jati Umra residence and got it declared a residential area in 2014 and former LDA head Ahad Cheema and former DCO Noorul Amin Mengal allegedly played a role in this regard.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2020