ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar on Sunday unveiled that the government had recovered Rs210 billion from land grabbers, adding that 36 of these people belong to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Illegally occupied state land worth billions of rupees had been retrieved from PML-N’s stalwarts, including Khurram Dastagir, Senator Chaudhary Tanveer, Javed Hashmi, Khawaja Asif, Abid Sher Ali, Malik Saiful Malook Khokhar, Daniyal Aziz and Javed Latif, he said.

Addressing a press conference here at the Press Information Department (PID), he said that these people had been using political influences to occupy the government property, which caused huge losses to the national exchequer.

He alleged that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif had introduced the politics of “Chhanga Manga” and use of money in it to get personal benefits. Through a rapid anti-corruption drive, the incumbent government succeeded in making these recoveries from the thieves who had been looting and plundering the national kitty during previous regimes, he added.

Says 36 of alleged land grabbers belong to PML-N

Speaking about the narrative of the parties in the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Mr Akbar said the purpose of their protests was just to defend their looted money and get NROs.

Sharing a document containing the details of recoveries with media personnel, he said the government had retrieved land worth Rs92 million along with penal rent Rs37.50 from Ghulam Dastagir, father of PML-N lawmaker Khurram Dastagir, who grabbed the land on GT Road and built a petrol/CNG pump in Gujranwala. He also grabbed commercial state land measuring one kanal worth Rs66m under his cinema land, which also had been retrieved along with Rs17.16m penal rent, the adviser.

Similarly, he said, illegal occupied state land under Mian Floor Mills measuring 8.2 kanals worth Rs34m was retrieved from PML-N’s Mian Javed Latif, adding that illegally grabbed 30.16-kanal government land under his Mian Paper and Board Mills had also been recovered from him.

Mr Akbar alleged that Malik Saiful Malook Khokhar, ex-MNA of the PML-N, illegally grabbed and fraudulently transferred over 1,025-kanal state land worth Rs70.78m and sold it out to PIDMIC on very high prices. This land had been retrieved along with another 45-kanal state land worth Rs1.5bn where Khokhar Palace was illegally constructed.

Three references relating to confiscation of 5,000-kanal benami land worth Rs7bn by PML-N Senator Chaudhary Tanveer was under process with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), while 27-kanal land worth Rs1bn had been retrieved from him after registration of a case, the adviser added.

Mr Akbar said the illegally occupied 2,400-kanal state land worth Rs2,500m in Chak No 170/172 NB, Sargodha, was recovered from Daniyal Aziz. The illegally grabbed 664-kanal land worth Rs1,372.98m by Ehsanul Haq Bajwa was also retrieved. Former PML-N minister Abid Sher Ali managed to occupy 11 acres of state land worth Rs2bn on Jhan Road and developed Wahid Town; this matter is sub judice.

He said the government also retrieved illegally occupied 60 acres of agricultural land of Darbar Makhdoom Abdul Rasheed Haqqani worth Rs38,997,099 from Zahid Bahar Hashmi, son-in-law of PML-N stalwart Makhdoom Javaid Hashmi.

The adviser said that 25 acres of Auqaf land in Moza Hardo Sabhni worth Rs37m was recovered from PML-N MPA Mazhar Rasheed, 293 kanals worth Rs70m from a front man of PML-N MNA Irfan Dogar, and 10,289-kanal state land worth Rs308.670m in Mouza Rakh Kot Qaisrani, DGK, from Meer Badshah Qaisrani, ex-MPA of the PML-N.

He said Sardar Sher Ali Khan Gurchani illegally occupied 7,560-kanal forest land worth Rs1,323m, out of which 1,200 kanals worth Rs210m had been retrieved from him; 106.4-kanal government land worth Rs33m in Arifwala was recovered from PML-N MNA Chaudhary Mohammad Ashraf; illegally occupied 18.9-kanal land worth Rs14.425m owned by Agriculture University Faisalabad was retrieved from PML-N’s ex-MPA Zafar Iqbal Nagra; and five-kanal land worth Rs150m was recovered from Farooq Ahmed Khan.

Mr Akbar said the PML-N’s ex-tehsil Nazim, M.C. Bhalwal, illegally allotted 45 shops to his political supporters at the lowest rates ranging from Rs600 to Rs700. The state land worth Rs102.9m retrieved from him. The government also retrieved 267-kanal state land worth Rs100m from PML-N’s Mudasar Qayum Nahra and Azhar Qayum Nahra; financial loss worth Rs12.145m from Ahsan Raza Khan, ex-MPA of the PML-N, on construction of an illegal housing society measuring 107 kanals in Khanpur and illegally developing commercial market in the limits of town committee without approval; and 64.12-kanal land worth Rs70m was recovered from PML-N’s Mohammad Boota.

He said Mohammad Tariq, front man of Waheed Gul, PML-N MPA, constructed two marques illegally on the state land measuring five kanals worth Rs70m; the land was retrieved and an FIR was registered against him.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2021