LAHORE: The Senate Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan and States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) has been told that almost 50pc of 2,325 acres of Jammu & Kashmir state property and agriculture land in Lahore’s Wagah tehsil is under encroachment.

The committee was also informed that about four ‘illegal’ housing societies had made these illegal encroachments at the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) state land in the provincial capital of Punjab.

The committee chairman, Senator Asad Qasim, and members have decided to personally visit the encroached land before submitting its recommendations to the federal government.

The Senate committee that met here on Thursday was briefed by Kamran Rehman Khan of the Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan and SAFRON as well as J&K State Properties administrator Adnan Khan on the urban and rural properties under the J&K State in different cities of Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir has 2,325 acres land in Lahore, 1,057 acres in Narowal and 906 acres in Sheikhupura

The administrator told the meeting that the state had 1,400 acres of rural property in village Sultanpura and 925 acres of land in village Rehmanpura, tehsil Wagah, district Lahore. The J&K State has 1,057 acres, 906 acres of rural property land (agricultural land) in village Jangu Chak, Narowal, and village Purab, Sheikhupura, respectively.

Similarly, the J&K State has around 242 kanal commercial land in Lahore, 34 kanal commercial/residential land in Rawalpindi, 17 kanal residential land in Jhelum, 19 kanal commercial/ residential land in Sialkot and a 17 marla open plot in Gujranwala city.

The committee was told that the J&K State is earning Rs280.98m annual income from the lease of these properties.

Highlighting the issues and challenges, the J&K State Properties administrator told the committee that there was illegal construction in Sultanpura/ Rehmanpura villages over the past 70 years; illegal housing societies had cropped up. The administrator also said that there were issues regarding rationalisation of rents and dependence on the provincial government.

The administrator said he had only 36 members’ staff under his command to look after the J&K State properties. He stated that he had written letters to all relevant agencies, including police and Lahore Development Authority (LDA), for support in saving the properties from being encroached upon.

Senate Committee chairman Asad Qasim told the media persons that the committee had visited Lahore for the first time and learnt about the problems being faced by the Kashmir Affairs Ministry. He declared that the committee would visit the state lands on Friday (today) and give its recommendations to the federal government for the proper protection of land. He said the administrator had already informed all the relevant agencies about the problems in writing and added that the committee would pursue the administrator’s requests. He said the committee would also recommend that the J&K State force strength be increased to look after the state land.

Answering a question, Mr Qasim said the illegal housing must have been established without getting any maps validly approved from the LDA and could be razed in the anti-encroachment drive.

Mr Qasim said the J&K State had completed cent per cent geofencing of state properties; digitized the rent collection and raised the rent of properties by 25 per cent after every three years. He said the state had also launched a robust awareness campaign and anti-encroachment operations on a regular basis along with legal action including FIRs.

Of the 15-member Senate committee only five senators, including its chairman, attended the meeting.

Those present in the meeting were: Senator Nasir Mehmood Butt, Senator Nadeem Ahmed Bhutto, Senator Mir Dostain Khan Domki and Senator Naseema Ehsan.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2026