THIS refers to the report ‘SC terms commercial use of military land shameful’ (Dec 1). Hats off to the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) for taking suo motu notice regarding the military lands being used for commercial purposes with impunity on a massive scale across the country.

This practice is clearly against the rules and must be stopped. As also mentioned by the chief justice, another undue but organised favour in vogue is that the land is allotted to defence officers free or at throwaway price, which is subsequently sold or transferred to the civilian citizens for millions of rupees.

The commercialisation and profiteering mindset, which has seeped into the forces, is affecting their fighting morale, and is distracting them from their main duty of serving the nation selflessly. The misplaced focus adversely impacts the high level of valour and bravery needed from the personnel involved in defending the motherland. The defence institution has become the biggest player in real estate which is not its domain.

The government should immediately forfeit and take over all lands where commercial activities are thriving. There cannot be different laws for the civilians and military for illegal occupation of lands.

The military must desist from all business activity and attend singularly to defending the borders as frequent terrorism-related incidents continue to take place and we continue to face a serious security threat from the enemies within and outside the country.

Erum A. Baig
Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2021